


Our Contract

by Res_CVX



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Family, Friendship, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Res_CVX/pseuds/Res_CVX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry thought it was just some dream he had while he was in pain. He later finds out that it was anything but when, one day, memories of a non-existing future fill his mind. Who were these people, and what connection did his future self have with them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A grimace made its way across Harry's face as he slightly moved his right arm. The doctors had given him painkillers for his arm and eye, but pain still shot through his whole right side at any movement, no matter how slow or soft it was. Scanning the room with his left eye, he blinked at the vase filled with lilies on his side table. When had that been brought in? He shifted his gaze to the empty seat next to the table. Had it been his imagination that Aunt Petunia was sitting there earlier?

Inclining back in his bed, he tried to remember what had happened earlier. Why was he in a muggle hospital with a mangled arm and a damaged right eye? Frowning in thought, he winced once again as a sharp pang of pain passed through him again. Why was he– oh right… Ripper. The few dimmed light in the room started flickering ominously as Harry started recalling the incident earlier.

Harry tried to control himself, but even a passing thought of Vernon and Marge's name was enough for the anger in him to start bubbling out. As much as he would like express said anger (preferably towards those two and that disgusting bull dog), he couldn't risk getting expelled from Hogwarts and possibly arrested by the Ministry. Thanks to Dobby, he already had a record of underage magic. The idea of being expelled and being forced to stay with the Dursleys forever was enough to allow panic and dread to develop inside of him.

Taking deep breaths, Harry willed all his negative energy away. He wouldn't risk losing his friends over his anger at Marge. He, instead, decided to immerse himself in thoughts about Hogwarts. That always succeed in making him grin. Though using the past year might be a bad idea. The only consolation about that year was that everyone came out safe and healthy (Lockhart is better off as he is).

For third year, he would start two new classes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He would also be able to play Quidditch again, and hopefully win the Quidditch Cup (as long as something doesn't happen again). He would also meet up with everyone again, hell; he wouldn't mind meeting Malfoy again. Those meetings always turn out a bit interesting (in retrospect). And finally, third years are allowed to visit an all-wizard village, Hogsmeade. Harry blinked before throwing his head back in his bed and groaning out of frustration. There is absolutely no way that Vernon would sign his form. He would view the small injuries on Ripper as disobeying his orders, even though it was done in self-defense.

The lights started flickering again. They were probably laughing at his condition right. Marge most likely thought that a freak like him deserved it. They were also probably celebrating his injuries at his expense. Flickering once more, the lights went out and the light bulbs exploded along with the vase of flowers. Freezing, Harry could only look around in horror at the damage done. He lost control and did underage magic. Was the Ministry going to come after him now? In a different scenario, he would have most likely run away, but in his current state, he could barely sit up with much less run away.

"Such strong anger," a soft voice murmured. Harry's eye widened. They already found him? Harry scanned the room, but was unable to locate the source of the voice. Was he hearing things? There had better not be another snake climbing through the pipes again. Harry lifted his left hand and rubbed his left eye. Looking around again, his jaw dropped. Grabbing his glasses, he jammed them on and sat up, ignoring the sharp pain that seared through his body. Somehow, his hospital bed ended up next to a forest.

"Where am I?" A soft chuckle alerted Harry to the person's presence, and turning his head, Harry caught the sight of an older teen standing a few feet away from his hospital bed. Green eyes met up with a pair of mismatched red and blue eyes. Blue hair framed his face and spiked up in the back. At the moment, the person's lips were turned down in a frown. The person took a few steps towards him, and Harry stiffened. Noticing this, the person paused and smiled at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Harry blinked before nodding slightly. Harry had the feeling that the older teen wasn't asking about him physically. The person resumed his steps and paused when he stood right next to Harry's bed.

"Where are we?" Harry asked. The other looked at him curiously.

"You tell me," he replied, smiling lightly. Harry blinked and took in the scenery again. It looked familiar. It almost looked like…

"The edge of the Forbidden Forest!" Harry exclaimed. The other teen looked around.

"The forest around that school in Scotland?" he asked. Harry nodded, looking at him curiously.

"Why are we here?" The other teen shrugged.

"This is your mindscape," he said. "It varies with each person. It's usually the spot where you feel the most comfortable, but it can change depending on the person, and what scenery they want." Harry had to smile at that. They were at the exact spot where he, Ron, and Hermione had frequently done their work when they went outside to enjoy the weather.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, focusing on the next issue. The other teen tilted his head.

"Shouldn't have that been your first question?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. It was Harry's turn to return the shrug.

"It didn't feel like you would do anything to me, so I'd figure that my location was more important." The other blinked in surprise, before smiling again.

"Is that so..." Harry waited expectantly for the other to continue. The other took his time and settled on a corner of his bed. "My name is Mukuro Rokudo. May I have yours?"

"Harry Potter." Mukuro's eyes widened and looked up to glance at his scar, which was barely visible through his bangs. Harry gave a mental sigh. "Are you a wizard?" Mukuro's eyes met his again.

"Not exactly. How did you get injured?" Harry looked surprised by the sudden question.

"H-How I got injured?" Mukuro nodded. "I had an accident," Harry said. There was no reason for anyone to know the truth. Besides, that's what Aunt Petunia probably told the doctors about his injuries.

"You're lying." The certainty that he said it made Harry wince.

"Was it that obvious?" Harry asked weakly. Mukuro chuckled.

"Your facial expression was good, but your eyes gave it away." The humor left his eyes. "Who did this to you?" Harry panicked. He didn't really want anything to happen to his relatives. Without a doubt, Mukuro might do something to them if he wanted. That was how the aura around him felt. Why did he even care?

"It wasn't anyone. Just a random dog," Harry said, averting his eyes slightly. He was too embarrassed to ask why he wanted to know the truth. He decided, instead, to stare at the other's hair instead. It was very reminiscent of a pineapple. Mukuro's smile got wider, but somehow the air around them chilled, making Harry shiver. Reaching out, Mukuro started messing up Harry's hair, and turning it so they made eye contact. "Hey!"

"Now tell me, who set the dog on you?" Harry stared wide-eyed into Mukuro's. Everything was quiet for a moment.

"Marge Dursley." Harry closed his eyes, and fell back asleep while Mukuro settled him back down onto his bed.

••••••

Mukuro glanced at his surroundings. There were already fading away along with himself. With the last of his power, he made the head of his trident appear. Walking towards Harry, he nicked Harry's left arm, creating a small cut. Satisfied, Mukuro allowed himself to fade away. He hadn't fully recovered the energy he had used during his fight with Mammon, and the little he had left had gone into his trip around Europe, though he didn't regret it. Mukuro was quite surprised that he ran into a wizard of all people, and Harry Potter at that. This should be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was a few days later that they let him leave. With his right eye fully healed (though twitching once in a while), and his right arm in a cast, Harry waited patiently for whoever was coming for him. After nearly half an hour later, a car pulled up. Petunia was driving the car, and Harry wordlessly got up and sat inside. Harry wasn't aware of when Petunia got her license, but he didn't really care. For the whole trip, the two of them stayed quiet. For some odd reason, Petunia kept giving him a side glance, but Harry refused to acknowledge it. Harry decided to speak up when Petunia pulled into the driveway.

"Is Aunt Marge still here?" Petunia looked startled that he spoke, but composed herself.

"Ah, well yes, Marge is... still here..." Petunia looked hesitant at speaking. Harry looked at her, and their eyes met. After a few seconds, she left the car and hurried to the front door. Harry paused before following her to the door. Once the door opened, it was obvious that Vernon and Marge weren't home. Dudley, on the other hand, was. He looked away from the TV, and watched them come in. Petunia, at once, went to check up on him. Dudley gave one last look at Harry before turning to his mother.

Harry turned away from them, and headed upstairs to his room. At the door, he briefly hesitated. His room was left unguarded for days. Who knows what could have happened in his absence. Bringing out his courage, Harry opened the door, and stood there.

Without a single doubt in his mind this was Marge's, or at the very least, Ripper's doing. From everything to the curtains, to the bed, to the wardrobe was in tatters. Harry's eyes started to water, but he blinked the wetness away. Shutting the door behind him, he quickly went to the floorboards, and to his relief, all the items remained untouched. A quick glance down the stairs revealed that the cupboard under the stairs was still locked and bolted. Going back into his room, he examined everything again. A second examination revealed that someone had started cleaning up the room, but they didn't get far.

Harry was confused. He was skeptical, but there could not have been anyone else other than Petunia who started cleaning it. Petunia also visited him once at the hospital, though he was half asleep, and she also volunteered to pick him up. The last thing that had happened, the startled look she had given him when their eyes met, confirmed his suspicions.

"My mother's eyes," Harry whispered to himself. Shaking his head, Harry headed towards the open wardrobe. While his important items were safely hidden, his clothes hadn't fit that category. Harry gazed at the remains of all his muggle clothes. He had no idea how far Petunia's guilt went, but it was likely that buying him a whole new wardrobe wasn't part of it. Turning away, Harry looked out the window, wishing that Hedwig was here.

A sudden sound had Harry turning around and staring at his wardrobe. A faint purplish-blue glow surrounded the wardrobe. To Harry's amazement, the clothes inside and the wardrobe itself had all the damage to them disappear, as if the damage never occurred. Unnerved, Harry cautiously walked to the wardrobe. The purplish-blue glow was still there, but on a closer examination, Harry saw that the glow was in fact a fire. The fire, for some odd reason, wasn't burning the wooden wardrobe or the clothes inside. Reaching out, his fingers lightly brushed against the flame. To his surprise, the flame wasn't hot; the flame was comfortably warm. Harry placed more of his hand into the fire, and the warmth spread.

Suddenly, the flame disappeared. Harry blinked at the sudden loss. He stared at the area, wondering if it would return, but after a few minutes, he realized nothing was going to happen. He slowly stood up. The flame reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember. Eyeing the wardrobe again, he cautiously picked up a shirt and examined it. He didn't see anything wrong with it, so how did it look like it was damaged? Harry paled and turned his head towards the window. He examined the sky, but there wasn’t any sign of a Ministry owl. The color went back to his face when he realized he didn't use accidental magic and accidentally got himself expelled. Hearing a knock, he turned towards the door.

"Come in." The door opened, and Aunt Petunia stood there awkwardly.

"Ah, you're going to need—" her eyes caught sight of the not damaged wardrobe. Her eyes widened, and she turned towards Harry, her eyes easily asking the question, “ _Was that you?”_ Harry met her gaze, but made no sign to confirm or deny her claim. An awkward silence filled the area. Harry wondered if she was going to punish him, however he saw no sign of either anger or annoyance. He did, however, see a trace of fear that she always had when magic was either mentioned or alluded to. She seemed to decide to just ignore the whole thing. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to continue, but the sound of the door opening downstairs made her freeze. Harry listened carefully, but there was no mistaking the loud footsteps and the bark. Marge and Vernon were back.

Aunt Petunia shot him a fearful look, and headed downstairs at the sound of her name being called. Harry hesitated. He really didn't want to go downstairs, but there was no doubt that Marge would eventually come up and force him downstairs. Harry decided, in the end, that he would do what a Gryffindor would do, and go down and face her. Once again thankful that his clothes weren't messed up, Harry started to change, his mind coming up with ways to get back at Vernon and Marge. When he was ready, he took a deep breath, and left his room.

In the kitchen, the two of them along with Aunt Petunia and Dudley, were seated at the table. Aunt Petunia and, oddly enough, Dudley were the only ones who noticed his presence. Harry paused outside the door. He watched as Vernon and Marge laughed over a joke that must have been told before he had gotten there. Suddenly, Marge looked up, and noticed his presence. The smirk on her face turned into a sickening smile. The hair on the back of Harry's neck stood. He suddenly regretted coming downstairs. Marge stood up, and walked over to him.

"So, you're back," she spat out. Harry opened his mouth to retort, but he froze when a growl was heard right behind Marge. Ripper appeared, and started making its way towards Harry. Without thinking, Harry stumbled back, trying to put distance between him and the dog. "Down Ripper," she said with a malicious grin on her face. Ripper stopped advancing, but he continued to growl at Harry. "So boy," she started, forcing Harry to look at her, "I hope you learned your lesson." Harry swallowed. Inside, two parts of him were fighting each other. His Gryffindor side was roaring to start a fight with her, but his Slytherin side, which had always existed as his sense of survival, said to not agitate her. Revenge can be done later. A growl from Ripper made his decision.

"I'm- I’m sorry, Aunt Marge," Harry managed to say, sounding as quiet and fearful as possible. Through his bangs, he peeked up at her. She gave a satisfied smirk, and waddled back to her seat. Ripper continued to growl at him, until Marge called him back. Vernon opened his mouth to say something, but Aunt Petunia got up before he could speak.

"Here." She pressed a piece of paper in his hand. He glanced at the list. Chores he had to do. Wonderful. He couldn't actually believe that he thought Petunia had changed for the better. "Make sure to get them done before the end of the day." Harry reflexively nodded. He turned and left the kitchen, barely catching Marge complementing Petunia and Vernon about keeping him busy, and making him carry his weight. Glancing at the list, he realized with a jolt that all the chores he had to do on the list made it so that he avoided Marge. Feeling a bit better, he left the house to head to the store. In the garden behind him, a good amount of bees zoomed over the flowers he worked hard on.

On his way back, Harry struggled to carry the groceries in his one good arm. Approaching the front door, Harry attempted to open the door with his casted arm, when it swung open, narrowly hitting him in the face. Aunt Petunia with a pale face, grabbed the groceries, and ushered him up the stairs and into his room.

"What happen?" Harry asked, as Aunt Petunia made to shut the door. She hesitated.

"Some bees entered the house and stung Marge, so she and Vernon aren't in the best of moods." With that, she shut the door in his face, and Harry heard the click of the lock. Great, he was locked in his room again. Sighing, he crashed onto his bed, minding his arm. Under normal circumstances, he would be bothered and concerned that someone was attacked by bees. This time however, since it was Marge, he secretly hoped that it hurt. He spent a few minutes wondering how badly stung she was, before stopping his thought process. Since when did he get so vengeful? That kind of thinking was supposed to be for someone like Malfoy, not him.

He slowly got up and went over to the door. Pressing his ear against the door, he listened closely. He could hear the booming voices of Marge and Vernon, but he couldn't identify what they were saying. Taking a chance, he knocked on his door the second he heard light footsteps. Hearing the footsteps stop, he backed away from the door. A moment later, Aunt Petunia opened the door and gave him a questioning look.

"Is Aunt Marge feeling better?" Aunt Petunia stared at him. He knew that if he was in her position, he would be staring at well.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked. Harry shrugged. He wasn't about to tell her that he felt guilty over her being stung even though he was a 100% sure that he didn't do anything. "She's getting better, so there isn't any need for her to go to the hospital." Harry felt a sudden jolt of disappointment that quickly faded as soon as it had appeared. Aunt Petunia gave him another odd look before shutting the door and locking the door again. Sighing, Harry rubbed his eyes, and decided to take a nap.

••••••

"Argh!!!!" Harry jumped out of his bed, and spent a moment looking around, trying to calm his beating heart. What monster made that sound? It registered, a moment later, that the sounds were coming from downstairs. With a trill of trepidation, he headed for his door. Finding it unlocked, he opened it and headed towards the stairs, when the same person screamed again. Rushing down the stairs, he stopped outside of the room where the screaming was coming from, and looked cautiously inside. The scene before his eyes made him stop. He slowly backed away, and headed for the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, where he couldn't be seen downstairs, he started laughing hysterically. He grabbed his ribs, and sat down on the steps.

A soft sound made him look down the stairs, and he made eye contact with one of the things that had invaded the living room. After a few seconds, the squirrel scurried away back to the living room. Hearing renewed screams, Harry figured it was best to leave them be, and headed back to his room.

An hour went by until Aunt Petunia came by his room with his dinner. She looked okay, so Harry didn't want to risk it by mentioning anything. Aunt Petunia was clearly in the same mindset, though she did give him a piercing look.

"I suggest you continue to stay in your room. Vernon and Marge are still in a bad mood." She then left without waiting for a response. Harry sat there surprised. She wasn't blaming him for the squirrel incident. From what he saw, Vernon and Marge were being attacked by squirrels. Harry guessed that Aunt Petunia and Dudley were left alone like he was, so maybe that's why she wasn't that upset. Deciding to think about it some other time, he started his dinner.

••••••

Over the next few days, strange incidents such as the bee and squirrel incidents continued to happen, but only to Vernon and Marge. First, there were small birds all over Marge when she woke up the next morning. Later that day, owls attacked her and Vernon. Wondering if they were the ones used by the Wizarding world, he asked the one close to his window where they were from, and if they would stop. The owl seemed to give him a look of amusement before flying off. He looked at the others. They seemed to be watching him. Feeling slightly creeped out, he closed his window and the curtain.

Vernon tried to put the blame of everything on him, but it was Marge who surprisingly shot him down.

"Vernon, I understand how demented and problematic this boy is (and again you should let the school know to use any method on him), but all this paranormal bullshit they talk about on TV does not exist."

"But Marge—"

"No buts Vernon. I keep on telling you to contact the Housing Committee, and tell them that all these vermin need to be eradicated. This is an area for humans to live by themselves, not for animals as well, unless they are trained like Ripper here..."

••••••

It was finally the last night of Marge's stay. Both she and Vernon were paranoid that more animals were going to attack them. Marge kept Ripper by her side, especially since that morning, frogs found their way into the guest room, and had been everywhere in the room when she woke up. Her screaming was loud enough to be heard down the street. Only a few of the neighbors had the courage to come by and ask. It was amusing to see Vernon's (hopefully) painful attempt at not screaming at the inquiring neighbors.

At this point, Harry already lost all hope of ever going to Hogsmeade. Right now, he was just hoping time make it through the evening without being contacted by the ministry. He did not need another warning from the ministry about his accidental magic; another warning could be enough for him to get expelled from Hogwarts, and Harry couldn't even imagine what he would do if that happened.

Unfortunately, life seemed to enjoy making everything difficult for Harry. At dinner, Harry thought about the broomstick servicing kit as his way of ignoring everything Marge was saying. Unfortunately, it wasn't working as well as he liked. He could still hear her voice drilling into him.

"This Potter, you never told me what he did?" _Grasp your broom firmly by the tail,_ he thought quickly, but Marge's voice continued to force its way into his ears.

"Didn't work," Vernon replied. The slight tremble of the table had him looking at Harry. Harry had an odd ringing sound in his ears.

"As I expected!" Marge said, taking a big swing of brandy. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who─"

"He was not," Harry said suddenly. The ringing noise in his ear got even louder, and the table started shaking even more, but all eyes were on Harry and Marge.

"Proud of your parents are you," Marge said, bloodshot eyes fixed on Harry. "Go on, boy, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash─"

"They didn't die in a crash!" Harry shouted out, getting to his feet. The ringing now was loud enough, that he could barely hear his own voice, but he was past caring about it now.

"They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" Marge screamed at him, swelling with fury. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little─" Marge stopped and looked as though words failed her. She continued to swell with fury, but the swelling didn't stop. Harry watched, frozen and horrified as Marge's face stretched. Her eyes started bulging and her mouth stretched too tightly for speech. Several buttons from her jacket flew off, and a second later, Marge was inflating like a monstrous balloon, and soon, her whole body began to rise towards the ceiling.

"MARGE!" Vernon and Aunt Petunia screamed as they stood up together, and tried to reach for her. Ripper, who had been in another room, came in, barking madly. The barking jolted Harry enough to remember to move. Vernon seized one of Marge's feet, and tried to pull her down, but he himself was almost lifted off the ground. A second later, Ripper leapt forward, and bit down on Vernon's leg.

Turning his back on the scene, Harry headed towards the cupboard under the stairs which burst open when he got near it. He heaved his trunk to the door, and ran upstairs. He wrenched up the loose floorboards under his bed, and grabbed the pillowcase filled with his books and his birthday presents. Seizing Hedwig's cage on his way out, he ran back down stairs, and placed his books into his trunk as Vernon came running out of the dining room, his pant leg in bloody tatters.

"COME BACK IN HERE!" Vernon shouted, approaching him with clenched fists. "COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!" Harry pulled out his wand from the trunk and aimed it at Vernon.

"She deserved it," Harry said, breathing heavily. "She deserved what she got. You stay away from me." Keeping his wand aimed at Vernon, Harry pulled the latch for the door, the cast on his right arm making things a bit more difficult. "I'm going," Harry said, when he finally got the door open. Sure that Vernon wouldn't follow him, he put his wand away, grabbed his trunk and Hedwig's cage and left.

••••••

At Magnolia Crescent, Harry collapsed. His trunk was heavy, and he couldn't continue to hold Hedwig's cage with his injured arm. He sat down on his trunk and thought about what to do. The Ministry of Magic, Harry had no doubt, would probably be here soon to help Marge and probably come after him and arrest or expel him. According to the Ministry, this would be his second offense (despite the fact the first one wasn't even him, but Dobby the House-Elf). If they were to arrest him, his wand would be snapped like they did with Hagrid's. Seeing no other options, Harry decided that it would be best to just run away. He would go to Gringotts and take out his money, and then be on the run. He glanced at his trunk. Would his invisibility cloak cover him enough to fly with his trunk? _‘No, don't even think about it,'_ a voice in his mind supplied. Sighing, he picked up his trunk and the cage and went down the street again, listening closely to see if he could hear the ministry come.

On instinct, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his wand. He turned towards the direction where he felt eyes watching him.

"Lumos," he whispered, figuring that if the ministry already knew he did magic, then it couldn't hurt him more to do more magic. The small beam of light shined onto a property across the street. Looking around, Harry couldn't immediately see, but when the light got near an alleyway, a dark shape shifted. Wanting to get a better look, Harry took a step to the side, completely forgetting that the trunk and cage were there. Tripping over them, Harry headed towards the ground. Throwing out his right arm to ensure that it and his wand were undamaged, Harry landed hard on the ground on his left arm, grazing the palm as well as his elbow. He glanced back at the alleyway, but the figure was gone. That, however, was the least of his worries.

A split second later, Harry rolled, just in the nick of time, out of the way of a huge triple-decker purple bus that appeared out of nowhere. He watched in amazement as the bus stopped, and a pimply teenager, older than himself came out, and greeted him.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve─" He stopped and stared at Harry, who was still on the ground.

"What were you doin' down there?" he asked.

"Fell over," Harry replied.

"Choo fall over for?" Stan said, sniggering. Harry glared at him.

"I didn't do it on purpose," he said, annoyed. He stood up and glanced at himself to see if he had any serious wounds, before looking by the alleyway again. Whatever was there was long gone.

"Choo lookin' at?" Stan asked.

"Nothing," Harry said quickly. He glanced around. The ministry still hasn't shown up yet. "Listen, did you say this bus goes anywhere?"

"Yep," Stan said proudly. "anywhere you like, long's it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater." Stan paused, and Harry a suspicious look. "'Ere, you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand 'and, dincha?"

"Yes," Harry said quickly. "How much would it be to get to London, Diagon Alley?"

"Eleven Sickles," Stan said, "but for firteen, you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen, you get an 'ot water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

Wanting to get out of the area quickly, Harry quickly gave him some money, and boarded the bus. Behind him, Stan cheerfully carried his trunk and cage behind him and placed him behind the driver's seat. He stared at the bizarre arrangement of beds instead of the chairs he expected as Stan continued to speak.

"You can 'ave this one," Stan said, shoving his trunk under the bed. "This is our driver Ernie─ Oi, you listenin'?" Harry turned towards him.

"Sorry,” he said quickly. Stan gave him an odd look.

"Wha' was the name?" Stan asked. Harry blurted out the first name that came to mind.

"Neville Longbottom." Stan glanced at his forehead, but nodded and turned towards the driver. Harry nervously flattened his bangs, wondering if he noticed. _'I don't think he's smart enough to.'_

"Take 'er away, Ern!" The driver, Ernie apparently, didn't seem to know how to drive, as Harry picked himself off the bed and later the ground. Harry hoped that he made it through the ride. Stan wasn't bothered by it, and in fact, pulled out The Daily Prophet and started reading it.

_'This is an idiotic idea.'_ Harry grimaced.

_'At least I'm getting out of here,'_ he told the voice in his head.

_'True...'_ Harry spent the rest of the ride trying not to fly off again. For the most part, he was doing well except for one point where he accidently ripped the paper away from Stan and got it blown out an open window when the bus made a sharp turn. He made an apologetic face, and went back to focusing on not following the paper's fate.

"Diagon Alley," Stan called out. Holding back a cheer, Harry thanked him and left the bus only to walk straight into someone. Stan came up behind him and gaped at the person. Harry took a step back and paled. In an attempt to hide from the ministry, he walked right into the Minister of Magic himself. _'Oh dear...'_

"There you are, Harry," Cornelius Fudge said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Harry's stomach sank lower, as Stan leaped from the bus and stood next to him.

"What didja call Neville, Minister?" he asked excitedly. Fudge looked at him in confusion.

"Neville?" he repeated, frowning. "This is Harry Potter."

"I knew it!" Stan shouted gleefully. ( _'Yeah right.')_ "Ern! Ern! Guess 'oo Neville is, Ern! 'Es 'Arry Potter! I can see 'is scar!"

"Yes," Fudge said testily. "well, I'm very glad the Knight Bus picked Harry up, but he and I need to step inside the Leaky Cauldron now..." Fudge increased his grip, and steered Harry inside. Holding a lantern, Tom, the barkeeper and landlord, appeared.

"You got him, Minister!" Tom said. "Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"

"Perhaps a pot of tea," Fudge said, still gripping Harry's shoulder. A loud noise was made behind them, and Stan and Ernie both appeared, carrying his things. They both looked around, excited.

"'Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you are, eh, Neville?" Stan said, beaming at Harry, while Ernie peeked over his shoulder.

"And a private parlor, please, Tom," Fudge added, giving the other two disproving looks.

"Bye," Harry said miserably to Stan and Ernie, wishing he could follow them. _'Good riddance.'_ He was led towards a passage that led from the bar and entered into a small parlor.

"Sit down, Harry," Fudge said, pointing to the chair by the fire. Wordlessly, Harry sat down, his stomach getting even lower. Fudge took off his cloak, and sat down across from him.

"I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. The Minister of Magic." Harry already knew this, but since he had been under an invisibility cloak at the time, Fudge wasn't to know that. Tom appeared with a tray holding tea and some crumpets. He dropped them off, and left the room.

"Uh..." Harry had no clue what to say. He watched as Fudge poured out tea and started buttering a crumpet.

"Well, Harry, you've had us all in a right flap, I don't mind telling you. Running away from your aunt and uncle's house..." Harry shrugged before reaching out to grab a teacup with his left hand. He was dearly hoping Fudge won't notice his right arm. He awkwardly took a sip as Fudge continued to talk.

"Well, the issue has been settled. Your Aunt Marge is now well, though she seems to be a bit loose in the head, screaming about flaming cats..." Harry stared at him to see if he was joking, but when Fudge didn't say anything else, Harry took a sip of the tea to cover the awkward silence. "Ah, you're worried about the reactions of your aunt and uncle?" Fudge said, misinterpreting Harry's silence.

"Er, well─"

"I won't deny that they are extremely angry, Harry, but they are prepared to take you back next summer... as long as you stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and Easter..."

"I always stay, and I don't want to go back to Privet Drive."

"Now, now, I'm sure you'll feel differently once you've calmed down..." _'What an imbecile.'_ Harry stifled a grin. As much as he wanted to correct him, he also wanted to know what was going to happen to him. "So , now all that remains is where you will stay─"

"Hang on," Harry interrupted. "What about my punishment?" _'Please shut up.'_ Fudge blinked.

"Punishment?"

"I broke the law!" Harry said. _'Shut up.'_ "The Decree for the Restri─"

"Dear boy, we don't punish people for a little thing like that," Fudge said, waving his crumpet.

"I got a warning last year just because a house-elf smashed a pudding at my uncle's house," Harry said, frowning. "I was told that if I did more magic there, I would be expelled." Fudge looked awkward.

"Well, circumstances change... Surely you don't want to be expelled?"

"Of course not," Harry said quickly.

"Well then, what is all the fuss about? Here, have a crumpet, and I will go see if Tom has a room for you." Fudge got up and headed for the door of the parlor. Harry braced for the comment about his arm, but Fudge said nothing. Harry stared as he left. Odd, it was almost as though it didn't exist to him. Harry looked down at the cast and poked it. It felt real, and the pain when it got broken most definitely felt real.

Fudge came back with Tom. "Room eleven is free, Harry," Fudge said. Hesitantly, Harry stood up and followed Tom out the room. He paused in front of Fudge. _'Don't even try.'_

"Um, would it be possible for you to give me permission to go to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked. Fudge looked at him in surprise. "My aunt and uncle wouldn't sign it and—" Fudge was shaking his head.

"No no, dear boy. I think it would best if you... considering..." Fudge shook his head again, and put on his cloak. He patted Harry on his shoulder and strolled out the door.

"Come along Mr. Potter," Tom the barkeeper said, steering him out the door. He escorted Harry to Room 11, and opened the door. Harry saw his things already placed there, and on top of the shelf was—

"Hedwig!" Harry ran into the room, and Hedwig flew down to rest on his arm.

"Smart bird you have there. Came in about five minutes after you arrived," Tom said, giving a toothless grin. Tom soon left the room, leaving Harry by himself. Harry sighed and laid down on the bed. Hedwig landed on the headboard.

"Some day, huh Hedwig?" Harry muttered. "First inflating Marge, worrying about getting arrested, and now I'm here until summer's over..." Hedwig made a disapproving noise. "Not you too," he whined. "First my conscience and now you? I didn't do anything wrong." Hedwig flew down to his left arm and gave a hard bite. "Ow!" Hedwig glared at him, while his conscience laughed. _'You should listen to her.'_ "Fine," Harry mumbled, massaging the bite mark. "I'm sorry, and I'll try not to do something that reckless again." Hedwig gave a satisfied hoot, and flew to the top of the wardrobe, and stuck her head under her wing and fell asleep. Feeling the day catch up to him, Harry followed her example, and without changing, fell asleep as well.

••••••

Countries away, in a cell deep within Vendicare prison, Mukuro Rokudo, suspended in the water prison, was currently torn between amusement and irritation. As amusing as psychologically messing with the large woman was, Mukuro was annoyed that the young wizard completely forgot about their meeting. Even when he was directly talking to Harry, he was thought of as being part of Harry's conscience.

He took a moment to check on Chrome. She seemed to be settling okay enough. Not how he would have liked it, but better than the condition she was in before at the hospital. He had enough faith in Ken and Chikusa that they would follow his orders about Chrome. Sawada Tsunayoshi also seemed to be making some sort of an attempt at having her join the famigilia more directly, but unsurprisingly, Chrome's shyness was hindering that particular goal.

Withdrawing from his mental world, Mukuro was once again fully aware of the chains and the water. He experimentally tried to twitch a finger. It didn't move at all. Feeling a now familiar emotion bubbling up inside of him, Mukuro retreated back into his mindscape. For now, he decided to go back and forth between Harry and Chrome. He desperately needed the distraction from his current plight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For the rest of the summer, Harry woke up, and had breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron and then headed towards Diagon Alley. Each time he saw his classmates, he greeted them, and continued to visit all the shops in the Alley; occasionally hearing snippets about someone named Sirius Black. Though he had yet to see Ron and Hermione, Harry knew these weeks of freedom were one of the best he has had in a while, if it weren't for one little thing.

On the last day of break, in his room, he sat on his bed, and stared at his casted arm. Even if he put on a long sleeved shirt, it was still obvious that there was something on his arm. Yet, when he walked around the Alley, no one said a word about his arm. Not even his classmates said anything when he tried waving at them with his broken arm. Are they purposely ignoring his arm so that he didn't feel embarrassed? Harry doubted that. After the last two years, he knew that most people generally didn't care about how he felt when they got curious about something.

Standing up and stretching, Harry jumped when there was a loud, rapid knocking on his door. _'They could be a bit more polite.'_ Walking over to the door, Harry cracked the door open, and jumped back as Ron slammed opened his door. _'Really?'_ Harry ignored the disdainful voice in favor of smiling widely at Ron.

"Were you here the whole time? We were looking all over for you!" Ron exclaimed. Harry winced when Ron thumped him on the back.

"I was taking a nap. Did you guys just get here?" Ron nodded.

"Hermione's here as well, downstairs. Let's go." Before Harry could say a word, Ron gripped his left arm, and dragged him from his room. Seeing him leave, Hedwig closed her eyes again, and went back to sleep.

Arriving downstairs, Harry saw the rest of the Weasley family. After greeting everyone, Harry extracted himself from them, and motioned for Ron and Hermione to follow. They entered Diagon Alley, and began to aimlessly wander around.

"Did you really blow up your aunt?" Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's first question.

"Yeah, I did." Ron started grinning.

"Wicked."

"Ron! That's not funny. Harry could have gotten in trouble," Hermione said hotly. Harry rolled his eyes again, but he couldn't help smiling at Hermione's worry. _'Something tells me that we would never get along.'_

"I didn't get in trouble though. Fudge let me off," Harry explained. He held out his right arm to stop the two of them. They both looked at his arm, and looked back at him.

"What?"

"You don't see anything wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Hermione said in worry. Harry lifted his arm higher so that it was eye level to them.

"Do you see anything?" Harry asked. They both looked at his arm, and looked back at him in confusion.

"No, should we?" Ron asked. Harry slowly put his arm down.

"No, it’s nothing," Harry muttered.

"Harry, is something wrong?" Hermione asked. A short distance away, Harry spotted the Magical Menagerie.

"Ron, you said you wanted to get Scabbers checked out, right?" Harry said, ignoring Hermione's question.

"Oh yeah." Changing directions, they entered the shop. Harry had no idea how, but a half hour later, he was sitting inside the Leaky Cauldron between a bickering Ron and Hermione about Hermione's choice of a pet. Glancing at the cat, Crookshanks ( _'That is not a cat.'_ ), Harry had mixed feelings about it, but after two years, he also learned that concerning Ron and Hermione, he should keep his mouth shut. In no time at all, night fell, and it was time to go to bed to catch the train the next morning.

Oddly enough, Mr. Weasley managed to, for whatever reason, get the Ministry to send drivers to drop them off at the station. Throughout the whole morning, Harry noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley kept giving him worried looks, and Harry wondered if he was actually going to get in trouble for blowing up Marge. _'I really doubt that.'_ Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. Just to be safe, Harry kept some distance between himself and them, and when he saw that the others were getting on board, Harry, Ron, and Hermione boarded the train quickly.

"It looked like Dad wanted to say something," Ron said looking out the window. Shrugging, the three of them went on their search to find a compartment. Not seeing any empty ones, they decided to settle in the compartment with the sleeping professor ("Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said, reading off his briefcase). Harry briefly wondered why a professor was taking the train before shrugging off that thought. _'How odd, but it’s really reckless of you to be so unguarded.'_

"Shut up," Harry said. He looked up to see Ron and Hermione staring at him. "Not to you guys," he said quickly. Hermione raised an eyebrow, before turning away and placing her trunk on the rack. Crookshanks was eyeing Ron's pocket, as he was putting his trunk away. Finally settling down in the seats, Harry double checked to see if Lupin was truly asleep. Nodding to the other two, Ron and Hermione relaxed. They soon started talking about how their respective summers went. Harry carefully left out Ripper's attack as he told this, but the shock of him blowing up Marge prevented them from noticing anything strange.

"Why do you think the Minister let me off?" Harry asked, taking a bite out of a cauldron cake.

"Probably because you're you," Ron said thickly. After a glare from Hermione, Ron swallowed the cake, and took smaller bites.

"It also might have something to do with him being busy with the search for Sirius Black." Harry recognized the name.

"I heard someone mention him before. Who is he?" Harry flushed slightly when both Hermione and Ron stared at him. 

"You don't know who he is?" Harry shook his head, and Ron gaped at him.

"He's all over the news." Harry shrugged.

"I was distracted," Harry said. It was the truth. He was too busy worrying about why no one was questioning his broken arm and dealing with his snarky conscience. _'Excuse me?'_

"He's a mass murderer that escaped from Azkaban Prison over the summer," Hermione explained.

"What did he do?" Harry asked, curious.

"Apparently, he killed thirteen people with a single curse."

"And he was also a supporter of You-Know-Who," Ron cut in. _'Interesting…'_ Harry let that sentence run through his mind as he looked out the rain streaked window.

"I'm sure he'll be captured soon enough," Hermione said softly. "They have the Azkaban guards looking for him, and-" Hermione was thrown off the seat as the train suddenly halted with a loud screech.

"What the-" The lights went out, and they were thrown into darkness. Minutes later, their door opened and Ginny and Neville stumbled inside. From the babble that ensued, Lupin finally woke up. When he made to leave the compartment to speak to the driver, the door was already opening, and the _thing_ entered. As the room began to chill, Harry's vision gave away, and all he could hear was the screaming of a woman. When Harry made a move to help her, he found himself unable to move an inch. The sound of chains clanging together and the sound of falling water echoed throughout his mind until he was engulfed in it, and the screams of the woman began to fade in and out. When the feeling of the water and chains disappeared, Harry tried to move again, but this time, he felt leather dig into his ankles and wrists, and a sharp pain in his right eye had him screaming.

"Harry!" A sharp slap against his cheek pulled him away from the pain, and Harry blearily blinked in the now lit up room. Hermione's pale face came into view. "Are you alright?" she asked. Harry reached up to touch his right eye. Not feeling anything unusual, his hand dropped, and Harry slowly sat up. Sitting in the seats were a pale faced Ron, Ginny, and Neville. They were all looking at him in concern. A loud crack had them all turning to face Lupin, who was breaking up pieces of chocolate. Handing them out, he encouraged them to eat it. Harry noticed that his piece was bigger than the others, but he didn't say anything. When Lupin left the compartment, Harry turned towards Hermione and Ginny.

"Was one of you screaming?" he asked. They both shook their heads.

"You were the one that was..." Ginny trailed off.

"I heard a woman screaming," Harry said. Everyone in the room exchanged worried glances. Harry brushed a finger over his eye, before shivering and taking a bite of the chocolate. To his surprise, warmth filled his body. Lupin chose that moment to enter the compartment.

"I spoke to the driver. We'll be arriving soon to Hogwarts." Harry stood up, and avoided looking at Lupin and the others. He didn't want them to ask why he had been screaming. When the train finally reached the station, Harry and the others quickly packed away all of their things and headed towards the horseless carriages.

For the rest of the night, Harry only spoke a handful of times. The feeling of chains and drowning in water as well as the pain in his right eye kept replaying in his mind. Harry paled when Dumbledore announced that the dementors would continue to stand guard at the entrance of the grounds. Momentarily, Harry felt glad that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade. At the dismissal, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the Gryffindors towards the tower. Ignoring their worried glances, Harry headed straight to bed.

••••••

Early next morning, Harry pulled out his wand and carefully cut open the cast, and slipped out of the common room towards the hospital wing. When questioned about his arm, Harry lied and said that he had tripped in the morning and broke it. Harry had been prepared for her to find a fault in his story since his arm was already partially healed, but Madam Pomfrey didn't say anything, and quickly healed his arm. Glad to have proper use of his arm again, Harry left the Hospital Wing with a smile for once. Getting his arm healed was one of the only bright sides of his first week.

For the rest of the week, Harry endured the taunts of the Slytherins when the knowledge of him fainting spread through the school, though he had been momentarily distracted when during Divination, the professor, Sybil Trelawney, predicted his death. After spending the next class worrying about it, Harry had finally calmed down when McGonagall said that it was her way of greeting new students.

Another thing that Harry had to deal with was Malfoy’s attack, or rather, Malfoy screwing up and letting himself get clawed by a hippogriff. Harry hoped that somehow, Hagrid wouldn’t get in too much trouble for Malfoy’s stupidity, but considering that Lucius Malfoy was involved, it was very doubtful.

One class that Harry had been looking forward to was Defense Against The Dark Arts. Compared to his last two years, anything would be better, and seeing that Lupin had been the one to get rid of the dementor on the train, Harry's respect for him became higher than it was for his other professors.

However, by the end of the class, it went back down to normal levels. Their first class had surprisingly been a practical lesson. The dark creature they had been dealing with was boggart, which was a creature that could turn into whatever a person feared. Harry's first thought was Voldemort, but then he remembered that night on the train. To fight against a boggart, they had to make their fear funny, but Harry had no idea how to make a dementor funny. In the end, he didn't have to worry. Lupin wouldn't even let him face the boggart. Lupin had probably remembered that Harry had screamed and fainted on the train, and thought that he wouldn't be able to handle a boggart. Harry spent the rest of that day sulking.

The other thing that was bothering Harry was that his conscience had stopped talking. He remembered that over the summer, it had starting making comments of its own. He had no idea why it had started, or even if it was his conscience (he had no other explanation), but since the train incident, it had stopped commenting. Harry wondered if the dementor had done anything; he had just started getting used to its snarky commentary. Actually, he was starting to miss it (Harry was sure if anyone knew that, they would definitely get him checked into a mental asylum).

••••••

"Did you hear about Sirius Black?" Curious, Harry turned towards the students that were talking about it. The topic had first popped up in Potions, but they were unable to have a proper conversation at the time.

"It's not too far from here," Hermione said, looking worried.

"Maybe I was right in saying that he wanted to get to you specifically," Ron suggested. "You did snuff You-Know-Who. He would probably want revenge." Harry recalled the conversation he had with McGonagall a week ago. She had told him that Black was an escaped Death Eater, and that there might be a chance that he would come after him, so he probably might not be able to play Quidditch, but Harry immediately protested. He knew that McGonagall really cared about Gryffindor winning, so under the promise of being supervised, Harry was still able to play.

"I hope he's caught soon," Harry said. "Then all this will die down, Hooch will stop hovering over me, and more importantly, the dementors will finally leave."

"Still, aren't you a little worried about Black?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry said firmly. He grabbed his glass and took a drink of water. _'I should think not.'_ Harry sprayed his water all over Ron. "You're back!" Harry flushed as the Ron and Hermione as well as the people around them was staring at him. "Sorry," he said sheepishly as Ron grabbed a napkin to wipe his face.

"What the bloody hell was that? And who is back?"

"I said sorry," Harry defended. "I was surprised, that's all."

"And who came back?" Hermione pressed. Harry looked around quickly.

"Hagrid!" At that moment, Hagrid just walked in. Seeing them, he gave a half-hearted wave, before going to sit at the head table. Even from where Harry was sitting, he could tell Hagrid was still upset over how his first lesson went. _'Miss me?'_

_‘Actually, yes,’_ Harry thought.

"If Hagrid gets in trouble because of this, I swear I will go to Malfoy and-"

"Ron!"

_'What happened?'_

_‘Malfoy was being an idiot an insulted a hippogriff which then attacked him,’_ Harry thought.

_'Ah.'_

••••••

The next couple of weeks became more enjoyable. Now that his conscience thing came back, Harry bit back sniggers and tried to cover up any snorts that he made during class. Besides the constant comments about the professors' robes ( _'Are you guys preparing for a ball?' 'Why hasn't anyone tripped yet?' 'In the middle of battle, someone will die because of those dresses.'_ ), he also kept commenting on their appearances, and usually, it was in the middle of whatever work Harry was doing that required immense concentration ( _'Has he used Supersonic yet?' 'What is the point of dressing yourself like a bug?' 'Definitely a vulture.' 'Is he purposely trying to be the stereotypical wizard?' 'A tiger mom, definitely.'_ )

Harry had already gotten caught sniggering for no reason in the middle of class. Thankfully, it hasn't happened yet in Potions, (Harry figured that his luck would be running out soon) but he had to deal with his classmates giving him odd looks, though once he explained to Ron about his sniggering (obviously leaving out the voice in his head), he laughed with Harry as Hermione frowned at them before shaking her head.

••••••

Harry had gotten used to the constant comments that when the voice had stayed silent for one whole day, Harry became so unsettled that even a few minutes of silence was uncomfortable for him.

The day after, the voice came back with a small apology.

_‘What happened?’_ Harry asked.

_'Nothing for you to worry about.'_ No matter how much Harry asked, the voice refused to say anymore on the subject.

••••••

Mukuro felt it immediately. Even though he was in the middle of talking with Harry, he felt Chrome's presence disappear completely. After a swift reply, he left Harry's mind and tried to find Chrome. When he had no luck, he went to Ken and Chikusa. When questioned about Chrome, they both had the same reply: I don't know. However, they did note that the other members of Vongola are missing as well (except for Hibari Kyoya and Sasagawa Ryohei, but Mukuro couldn't care less about them right now). Unable to find out any more information, Mukuro returned to the young wizard's mind with a small apology for his absence.

For the time being though, only one thing was running through his mind: Where was Chrome?

••••••

Harry knew it was pointless to ask the voice why he was quiet. He also knew it was even more pointless to ask what he was worried about.  It had started after the voice had come back from its day of absence.  Harry could feel confusion and worry coming from it, but he had no idea what it could be about. Besides the dementor on the night of the train, Harry couldn't think about anything that could worry him. He didn't even think it could even worry at all, but if it could feel annoyed and cheerful, Harry figured it could be worried as well.

It seemed that the voice’s worry was also affecting him as well. Ron and Hermione noticed that he was quieter. Harry didn't correct them when they thought it had something to do with either Sirius Black or the Grim (Professor Trelawney apparently saw it in his tea leaves).

The day after he had come back, Harry felt the voice disappear again. This time though, it only lasted for a half hour at most. When it came back though, Harry immediately felt a change.

_‘Is whatever bothering you gone?’_ Harry asked curiously.

_'I thought I told you it was nothing to worry about.'_ To Harry's relief, the voice sounded amused.

_‘It's kind of hard to ignore the constant worrying in my head,’_ Harry pointed out. 

_'My apologies, but there's no need to worry now.'_ Harry frowned. It seemed like there was a ‘for now’ missing from his statement.

_‘Alright.’_

After that, everything seemed to go back to normal. The next day at lessons, the voice continued its commentary about the lessons and the people around him. Oddly enough though, Harry had an odd sense that something was going to happen. That something occurred the next day as Harry was on his way back to the library after taking a bathroom break.

Each step Harry took caused the feeling in the back of his mind to become stronger. He knew something was going to happen, so that when the sharp dizzying sensation hit him, he was prepared enough to throw out an arm to break his fall as he became unconscious.  


	4. Chapter 4

_With a small saddened frown, Harry watched as Nozaru and Tazaru mourned for the loss of Gamma and Yuni. Tsuna, supported by Gokudera and Yamamoto, was still in shock._

_"So many people were hurt by this fight... We won, but everything is still a mess... Does this victory mean anything?"_

_“Of course it does, kora!”_  
  
 _“C-Collonelo?” Tsuna said, startled. Also startled, Harry started smiling a little when the pacifiers started to glow, and before them stood the five Arcobalenos, with Colonello holding Yuni's pacifier. Around him, people became excited for their return. Tsuna slowly approached them. "It's really you guys?" Colonello nodded._  
  
 _"Yuni explained to us to what happened, especially about what Byakuran did in all the parallel worlds with the Mare Ring," Colonello explained. "She also told us the effect that Byakuran's defeat would have. Now that he was defeated, the Mare Ring has lost its power."_  
  
 _"Which means that everything that Byakuran did with the Mare Ring," Fon continued, "at every point in time and in every parallel world was erased." Harry frowned._  
  
 _"Only the things concerning the Mare Rings?" he asked. Fon looked at him critically for a moment before he slowly nodded._  
 _"Yes." Harry closed his eyes, turned around, and took a few steps away from the group. Tsuna looked at Harry in concern for a moment, before turning back to the Arcobalenos._  
  
 _"What does that mean?" he asked._  
  
 _"That meant that..." Harry tuned out the rest of what they were saying. He had to think of something to do, now that his initial plan was useless. Harry was pulled away from his thoughts when everyone around him began to move. A small push on his shoulders made him look up._  
  
 _"Everyone is heading back to the base," Mukuro said. Harry mentally shook himself, and nodded. They both followed the group back to the base. Once at the base, Mukuro left to go talk to Chrome. Not knowing what to do, as well as not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment, Harry began to wander around. When the time finally came for Tsuna and the others to leave, Harry decided that the least he could do was to see them off._  
  
 _"Harry-san, are you alright?" Tsuna asked, when Harry entered the former lab. Everyone who was to return back to the past were already there. Irie Shouichi was near the time machine, setting it up._  
  
 _"Didn't I tell you to drop the '-san'," Harry said, smiling a little. "After all, you're technically older than me." Tsuna laughed a little._  
 _"Right, I keep forgetting. In the future, here was the first time I met you and you're older than me here," Tsuna said, still smiling. Harry reached out and patted his head._  
  
 _"I'm sure when you get back to the past, we'll meet each other soon enough," Harry said. Tsuna nodded._  
  
 _"Yeah." Tsuna blinked. "Ah, Harry are you─" Harry pushed Tsuna back towards the group._  
  
 _"It looks like you guys are about to leave," Harry said smoothly. Making eye contact with the others, Harry nodded, and received various nods and smiles in return. When he left the group to join Bianchi and the others, Harry heard something that made him pause. He approached the Arcobalenos and crouched down. "Did you guys just say something about memories?" They all looked at him._  
  
 _"Yes," Fon said. "One of the things we intend on doing is for everyone's past selves to get your memories from the future."_  
 _"So you guys better be grateful to us," Skull said. Reborn glared at him, and he quieted down again. Harry stared at them, horrified._  
  
 _"A-All of our memories?" Harry stammered._  
  
 _"Well, the important ones anyway," Colonello said, giving Harry a puzzled look._  
  
 _"Can you restrict the memories my past self gets to only those that apply to the Vongola and defeating Byakuran?" Harry blurted out. They are gave him a blank look._  
  
 _"You of all people should know the dangers that come with messing around with memories," Mammon said. Harry nodded._  
  
 _"I know, but this is important."_  
  
 _"Why?" Reborn asked. When Harry didn't answer, he frowned._  
  
 _"It doesn't matter why," Fon said, smiling at Harry a little. "If that is what you want, then we will try to do that, but don't forget that—"_  
  
 _"Messing with memories is bad." Harry said, echoing Mammon. Mammon turned away with a 'hn'._  
  
 _"As long as you understand that, then we'll try, so you shouldn't be angry if something you don't like what happens," Colonello said. Harry nodded._  
  
 _"Thank you," he said, relief flooding his body. Straightening up, he looked back towards the others who were looking at them curiously. Harry walked back towards them._  
  
 _"What was that?" Tsuna asked._  
  
 _"It was nothing," Harry said, smiling at them. Harry thought for a moment about what to say. "Um... well... thank you guys." Harry cringed slightly. That wasn't what he wanted to say. Yes he was thankful for them being there and being instrumental in the defeat of Byakuran, but Harry also enjoyed spending time and getting to know each of them, and they each also, unknowingly, helped him come to an important decision. They seemed to understand what he was trying to say though._  
  
 _"We should be the ones thanking you," Tsuna said, with most of the others nodding with him._  
  
 _"I didn't do anything special," Harry said, feeling slightly embarrassed. After all, all he did was talk to them._  
  
 _"Um, the machine's ready," Shouichi said with a slight apologetic look for interrupting them. Harry took a few steps back from the group._  
  
 _"Good luck everyone," Harry said, making sure to meet the eyes of everyone. He watched as the machine glowed and shot towards the group, and less than a minute later, the group was gone along with the Arcobalenos._  
  
 _Harry turned on his heel and left the place. Right outside, he almost walked into Mukuro._  
  
 _"How long were you here for?" he asked._  
  
 _"Long enough," Mukuro said with a shrug. Harry frowned._  
  
 _"Then why didn't to say goodbye to Chrome?" Mukuro gave him a pointed look._  
  
 _"I already said goodbye."_  
  
 _"Master was being considerate in not starting a fight," Fran deadpanned, appearing from behind him. Harry blinked before remembering that that past Hibari Kyoya still hated Mukuro._  
  
 _"Right..."_  
  
 _"Was that really a smart thing to do?" Mukuro asked._  
  
 _"You heard?" Harry said sheepishly._  
  
 _"How exactly would that help you?" Fran asked. Harry looked away._  
  
 _"It's just a temporary solution," he muttered._  
  
 _"Harry," Mukuro said sharply, "what are you planning?" Harry bit his lip._  
  
 _"I'm─"_  
  
••••••  
  
Harry's eyes snapped opened. Blinking rapidly to get rid of the pressing darkness, he sat up quickly. Hearing startled yelps, he turned his head to see Ron and Hermione staring at him.  
  
"You're awake," Hermione said happily. Ron smiled at him, a look of relief passing his face. Harry blinked a few times before looking around.   
  
"I'm in..."  
  
"The hospital wing, mate," Ron said, looking at him closely.  
  
"How long was I here for?" Harry asked slowly. His head was still throbbing, and he was hoping the two of them would keep their voices down. Even now, he was still trying to blink away the after images of the bright orange flame attack─ X-Burner, Harry reminded himself.  
"The whole day," Ron said, his voice toned down a bit. Harry was grateful towards him, but was stunned.   
  
"The whole day!?" Harry exclaimed before wincing. Hermione nodded.  
  
"Are you okay now?" she asked earnestly. Harry slowly nodded.   
  
"I still have a headache, but I'm fine now," Harry said. Hermione frowned.  
  
"Why did you collapse though?" she asked. "I remember that you were clutching your head in pain... Was it your scar?"  
  
"Was it You-Know-Who?" Ron asked, remembering their first year. Harry quickly shook his head. While both of them were rather pale, Byakuran was not only not a spiritesque thing (though with Ghost, that could be debatable), but he also had hair (though it was white).  
  
"No, not him... it's nothing for you guys to worry about," Harry said, smiling slightly. He looked out the windows. "Is it almost curfew?" The words barely left his mouth, when Madam Pomfrey strolled in. Harry immediately saw that she wasn't in the best of moods, and was not surprised when she ordered Ron and Hermione to leave. Slowly turning towards him, Harry felt a drop of sweat fall.   
  
"Now, Mr. Potter, now that you're finally awake, it's time for your check up." Harry shuddered slightly.   
  
Half an hour later, Pomfrey left, Harry gingerly rubbed his temple. He had no idea what she had done or what she had been looking for, but Harry's headache had now increased. He should be relieved though that she hadn't found anything.   
  
As soon as he heard her office door close, he quickly examined the area. Thankfully, it was empty. Having felt it when he had first woken up, Harry reached towards his neck and pulled out a chain from under his shirt.   
  
Glinting at him on his palm were three rings. With his other hand, he lightly brushed his fingers against the rings. Even with his limited experience with magic, he could feel something humming from them. The first one was, ironically enough, snake shaped. The next one had a large point sticking out of it, almost like a horn. Harry felt slightly apprehensive when he touched it. The last one looked like a plain old ring that was set with a dark reddish brown stone. When he finished examining them, he put the chain that they were on in his lap.  
  
If he remembered correctly, the others used rings like these to fight. Somehow, the rings were able to generate some sort of power that they were able to use whether it was to attack or to defend.   
  
Harry opened the chain, and pulled out the first ring, the snake one, and put it on. He stared at it. What was he supposed to do now? Was there some spell he was supposed to say? He thought hard. Those people, the... Vongola, had gone into the future to stop Byakuran, the man that had taken control of the Mafia world and was killing people associated with the Vongola left and right, especially those that were innocent. Harry agreed that he should have been stopped.   
  
If the memories he had were correct, his future self helped them. He thought further. He helped them somehow, and they fought against the enemy, but how did they do that? How did they use the rings? No matter how much he thought, he continued to draw a blank when came to using the rings. What was he supposed to do with them?   
  
Feeling his headache increase again, Harry put the ring back onto the chain, and placed it back around his neck again. Tucking it under his shirt, he laid back down and looked towards the nightstand. Pomfrey had left a sleeping potion for him to take. Feeling his resentment towards her diminish a little, Harry reached towards it, and in one gulp, finished the bottle. A moment later, his head hit the pillow and he fell asleep.  
  
••••••  
  
Harry opened his eyes, and blinked rapidly. When did it get so bright? Slowly turning, he was surprised to see that he was outside. When did he get outside? Alarmed Harry took a few steps before he realized where he was. He was near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He frowned though. It was clearly morning, yet he couldn't see nor hear anyone or anything.   
  
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Harry slowly turned in a circle and looked around the area. This wasn't his Hogwarts. Though it felt calm and peaceful, it was completely empty.   
  
"Hello Harry." Harry turned around immediately, and standing a few meters away was a teen with a pair of mismatched red and blue eyes, and blue hair that framed his face and spiked up in the back... He looked oddly familiar. Another memory from the future past his mind and he finally remembered.   
  
"You... you're Mukuro Rokudo."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
"I'm happy you recognized me," Mukuro said, obviously pleased. Harry blinked slowly, trying to understand what was happening. His head began to throb more as more and more memories passed through his mind again.  
  
"So all of that… was true?" Harry asked. He had the rings and he had the memories, but he needed someone to tell him, to confirm this personally.  
  
"Yes, everything seems to be true," Mukuro said.  
  
"Including the fight with the creepy albino guy?"  
  
"Yes," Mukuro said, lips curling up in amusement. Harry slowly sat down on the grass. He stopped trying to comprehend the memories, and was relieved to feel his headache subside a little. He slowly looked up at Mukuro, and frowned a little.  
  
"Your voice sounds kind of familiar. Not just from the memories, but from somewhere else." Mukuro stared at him.  
  
"Do you honestly still not remember our conversation from when you were in the hospital?" he asked, looking incredulous. Harry blinked.  
  
"You mean when I was there over the summer?"  
  
"Yes," Mukuro said, sounding thoroughly exasperated. Harry closed his eyes, and tried to remember that night. He remembered he had been angry, and he had accidently destroyed some stuff because of his accidental magic. He also had some weird dream where he talked with...  
  
"Wait, you mean that actually happened!?" he blurted out. Mukuro laughed.  
  
"You really are slow," he said. Harry glared at him, but then blinked.  
  
"Wait a minute; are you also that voice in my head?" Harry asked. Mukuro gaped at him.  
  
"You're kidding, right?" Harry sighed, and massaged his head.  
  
"Since all of that was true, does that mean..." Mukuro raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Mean what?"  
  
"That you're still in that prison?" Harry winced when he saw Mukuro's expression close off.  
  
“That’s the first thing you ask?” Harry gave him a small sheepish smile. "Yes, I still am." Harry licked his lips, and decided to keep going.  
  
"Are you in Azkaban?" Mukuro stared at him for a moment, before he began to laugh, but only for a moment.  
  
"No, I'm not," he said with a humorless smile. "If I were, I would've tried to escape by now."  
  
"Like Black did?" Harry said. Mukuro nodded, but then frowned.  
  
"On second thought, maybe not," he muttered. Harry blinked in confusion, and Mukuro sighed.  
  
"I'm currently in Vendicare. You wizards have Azkaban as a prison, and the mafia world has Vendicare."  
  
"Is it worse than Azkaban?" Harry asked, thinking about the dementors and shuddering. Mukuro sighed and took a seat on the grass as well.  
  
"From what I've heard, they have some similarities," Mukuro explained. "Azkaban seems to focus on more  _psychological_  restraints," Harry pictured the dementors again, "and the Vindice, the guards for Vendicare, have a preference of being more... physical." Harry shuddered again. That place sounded worse than Azkaban.  
  
"I don't really understand why you're there then," Harry said quietly. "You're barely older than me, so what could you have possibly done to be stuck there for so long..." Harry's voice trailed off. Mukuro gave him an odd look.  
  
"That'll be a conversation for another day," he said after a moment. They stayed silent for a few minutes.  
  
Harry thought over their conversation so far. If whatever he saw while he was passed out was true, then somehow, he got himself involved with the mafia world, and he had fought on their side. In his favor though, he remembered that the Vongola weren't as corrupted and cruel as the other mafia families, so Harry had to sigh in relief at that. He didn't think he was the type to help the bad guys. He also had been talking with Mukuro for the past few months, so regardless of the fact that Harry hadn't known his name or anything about his past, Harry felt a bit more comfortable with his former snarky conscience, or rather, more comfortable than he would be with a complete stranger. There was also the fact that Mukuro knew a lot about the wizarding world for someone that was part of the mafia world.  
  
"Are you sure you're not a wizard?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.  
  
"I'm sure." Harry blinked at the sudden answer.  
  
"Why do you know so much about the wizarding world then?"  
  
"I just came across some information about it when I was younger." Harry waited for him to say more, but when Mukuro didn't continue, Harry dropped the topic. "What are you going to do then?" Harry blinked at the sudden question.  
  
"Do what?" he asked in confusion.  
  
"Whether you like it or not, you're involved with the mafia world, so what are you going to do concerning it?" Mukuro elaborated.  
"I-I don't know," Harry said.  
  
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind you being there," Mukuro said.  
  
"They?"  
  
"The Vongola." Harry's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Are you suggesting that I go and join them?" Mukuro shrugged lightly.  
  
"That's what Chrome did." Harry blinked as a memory passed his mind again; a girl with purple hair and an eye patch that could easily pass off as Mukuro's twin or younger sister. Trying to ignore the headache, Harry focused on Mukuro.  
  
"I have a life here," Harry told him. "I have no intention of going anywhere." Mukuro's expression was blank.  
  
"That wasn't what I was suggesting," Mukuro said after a moment. "I'm not telling you to abandon your wizard life." Harry stopped glaring at him, and was now slightly confused.  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"Your muggle life is what I want you to give up." Harry stared at him. "You may or may not remember this, but while you and Chrome are quite different from each other, you two, unfortunately, share similar home life. That's why I'm telling you that I'm not completely comfortable with you being there."  
  
"So you're ordering me to go to them?" Mukuro's eyebrows furrowed a little, before his expression cleared and he sighed.  
  
"I'm not telling you to do anything. I'm merely just offering you the option of being away from those muggles for the summer at least." Harry looked down at the grass. Absentmindedly pulling pieces of grass, Harry thought about the idea of spending a full summer away from the Dursleys, and he could barely hold back a small smile. Anywhere would be a better place than the Dursleys. Harry looked back towards Mukuro, who was staring at the Hogwarts castle.  
  
"Are you sure they wouldn't mind me being there?" Harry asked. Mukuro looked away from the castle, and refocused on Harry.  
  
"They won't mind," Mukuro repeated. Harry smiled a little. For the first time, he could look forward to a Dursley-free summer, though he still had to get though this school year. The thought made his smile fade.  
  
"Hopefully Sirius Black will be caught by then," Harry muttered.  
  
"Sirius…?"  
  
"He was the prisoner that escaped from Azkaban, remember?" Mukuro slowly nodded. "The sooner he's caught, the sooner the dementors leave." Harry shuddered as he remembered the night on the train. He also remembered that was when the voice in his head stopped talking to him. "You were affected by the dementor that night, weren't you?" Mukuro made a noncommittal noise. "That was when you vanished," Harry continued.  
  
"I was momentarily unconscious," Mukuro said, with a note of finality in his voice. Taking the hint, Harry stopped talking. "But on that note, why were  _you_  unconscious?" Harry stared at him.  
  
"I was basically attacked by a bunch of memories, why wouldn't I pass out," Harry said, giving him an odd look.  
  
"From what I heard, no one else passed out," Mukuro said. Harry glanced at him, but then shrugged.  
  
"I don't know." Harry was telling the truth. He honestly had no idea. Mukuro stay silent for a moment.  
  
"Very well then," Mukuro said. He paused for a moment, before asking, "Did you get a ring?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Show it to me." Harry stared at him, but still reached around his neck to open the chain and wordlessly handed it over. Maybe Mukuro could tell him how the rings are supposed to be used. Mukuro raised an eyebrow at his almost eagerness to give it to him, but made no comment. His eyes, however, widened, when he saw the rings. He pulled the chain from Harry's hands, and started to examine them.  
  
"The others got rings like this one," Mukuro muttered as he examined the snake ring. He pushed it aside, and stared at the other two. He looked up at Harry. "Why do you have these?" Harry shrugged. Mukuro stared at the reddish-brown ring, before pushing it aside in favor of the other one. He held up the ring with the horn. "Do you know what this is?" Harry shook his head, and Mukuro looked slightly concerned.  
  
"Besides creepy, I have no idea." Mukuro's lips curled up a little.  
  
"It's a hell ring," Mukuro said. Harry winced as the headache came back full force as he tried to remember where he heard the name.  
  
"You had one─ two, right?" Harry asked, blinking through the pain.  
  
"Had being the keyword," Mukuro said dryly. Mukuro became serious again, and gave Harry a hard look. "I have no idea why you have this, but under no circumstances are you to ever put this on, understand?"  
  
"Yes," Harry replied dully. This was getting really repetitive. He had no idea about anything and Mukuro wasn't being the slightest bit helpful, and was almost making his confusion worse. "It's not like it matters, I don't even know how to use any of the rings," Harry added, and silently cursed himself, when Mukuro froze and slowly turned his head to stare at him.  
  
"Excuse me? I think I misheard you. Can you repeat that?" Mukuro asked with a small smile. His tone was deceptively soft, but Harry's screaming instincts told him otherwise.  
  
"I don't know how to use them," Harry repeated firmly and against his better judgment. Mukuro's small smile stiffened.  
  
" _Why?_ "  
  
"I don't know," Harry repeated for what seemed like the 100th time. "I don't know why I have these rings. I don't know why I don't know how to use them. Heck, I don't even know why I'm even involved with any of this in the first place!" Harry shouted out. Mukuro's expression became blank again. Harry took a deep breath, and huffed.  
  
"Done?"  
  
"No," Harry growled out, "but just stop asking me anything. The answer is I don't know," Harry finished with a tired voice. He rested his elbows on his legs, and slowly rubbed his eyes. He was getting tired. "Can you tell me how to use them?" Mukuro gave him a quick look over before nodding.  
  
"You do know that these rings are supposed to allow you to create flames, right?" Harry nodded. "The flames are basically your will power and resolution materialized, so only those who can clearly picture them can create a flame," Mukuro explained. Correction: Mukuro just made his confusion worse. Harry had no idea what he was saying, but even he could tell that the way Mukuro had said it sounded a little odd.  
  
"And?" Mukuro pulled off the snake ring, and held it out towards Harry.  
  
"Try it," he told Harry. Bewildered, Harry took the ring, and put it on his finger. Despite it looking a bit too big, the ring was a snug fit on his finger. Closing his eyes, Harry tried to concentrate on picturing a flame.  
  
"Can you be more specific about picturing my will power?" Harry asked after a minute when nothing happened. Mukuro sighed.  
  
"What are you determined about right now? What are you the most focused on right now?" Harry started thinking. The Sorcerer's Stone was no longer at risk to fall into Voldemort's hand, and Tom Riddle is no longer attacking Muggleborns, and so far this year, nothing significant happened, so...  
  
"Beating Slytherin at our Quidditch match," Harry told him.  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"I'm not," Harry said, glaring at him. Turning his back towards Mukuro for the moment, Harry closed his eyes, and concentrated on their upcoming match and the idea of wiping the floor with Malfoy with the Gryffindors (and Wood) celebrating when Gryffindor won the match. Eagerly opening his eyes, his face fell when the ring showed no signs of even a small flame.  
  
"It's not going to work," Mukuro stated when Harry turned to look at him. Before Harry opened his mouth, Mukuro held up a hand. "That is how it usually works for people," Mukuro said, accurately interpreting Harry's expression, "but for you, I'm quite sure it's different."  
  
"Is it because I'm a wizard?" Mukuro shrugged.  
  
"Maybe," he said. Harry snorted. That was ironic. Mukuro suddenly frowned, and looked around. "I think time is almost up for this conversation." Harry looked around as well, and noticed that far away, some of the area had already started to fade. "We'll talk again soon enough," Mukuro said. Harry just nodded, and accepted the chain that Mukuro held out. He placed the snake ring back onto the chain, placed it around his neck, and tucked it under his shirt.  "You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.  
  
"I was expecting more complaints and yelling than you already did," Mukuro said.  
  
"Don't get me wrong, I'm bothered that I somehow got wrapped up in this, but..." Harry trailed off, trying to think of the least offensive way to phrase what he was about to say. Mukuro looked at him expectantly. Taking a deep breath, Harry continued, "Don't take this the wrong way, but whatever my future self did, that was him, not me." Mukuro's eyes narrowed, but he stayed silent. "I have the memories, sure, but that isn't me, and I don't really feel comfortable about all of this." Seeing Mukuro's face, Harry quickly added, "I'll still go this summer. I'd pretty much do anything to get away from the Dursleys, but just know that I have no intention of getting involved with this. I'm a wizard with enough problems as it is. I don't need more."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Mukuro?" Harry said cautiously. He blinked when the area around them flickered. He looked back at Mukuro, and then, a moment later, everything around him disappeared, and Harry woke up back in the hospital wing.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Harry stared at the ceiling of the hospital wing. He hadn't expected for Mukuro to react that way. Harry admitted to himself that he may have surprised Mukuro when he said that he didn't want to get involved with the mafia. Harry immediately squashed down the feeling of guilt; he had no reason to feel guilty. In fact, Harry was annoyed and angry. Was Mukuro actually suggesting that Harry make more problems for himself?

Groaning slightly at his headache, Harry slowly sat up in the bed. As though sensing that he was up, Madame Pomfrey came out of her office with a tray of food and potions. As soon as Harry ate the food and downed the potions, she allowed him to leave. Heading straight towards Gryffindor tower to grab his stuff, Harry was relieved that he didn't have Potions today. There was no doubt that Snape would make his mood a lot worse as well as take a bunch of points off of him for being late, regardless of the fact that he was just in the hospital wing. The day Snape starts to care about him, Harry knew the end would be near. After grabbing his things, Harry took his time walking towards Divination. As it was, Trelawney wasn't likely to take points off since he was at the hospital wing, and Harry didn't feel like being there longer than he had to.

Slipping through the trapdoor, Harry gave Trelawney an apologetic smile and quickly sat down with Ron and Hermione. The class, who had turned around when Harry had entered, slowly turned back to Trelawney, though Harry could feel a few of them look at him every so often, which made him scowl a little.

"You alright?" Ron muttered, seeing the scowl on his face. Hermione glanced in their direction, and leaned in a little.

"I'm fine," Harry stated. Ron made to open his mouth, but when Trelawney glanced in their direction, he thought better of it.

As soon as they were dismissed, the three of them separated themselves from the others.

"You sure you're okay?" Ron asked again. "You look like you're in a bad mood," Ron said when Harry opened his mouth. Harry closed his mouth and shrugged.

"Did something happen?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head a little.

"I really am fine," he told them. "I just have a bad headache, and a really weird dream." Harry sure as hell wasn't going to say anything about the mafia to Ron and Hermione. (A part of him, though, was curious about how they would react if he told them what his future self was apparently doing... or done... or will do...)

"Anything in particular?" Hermione asked, curious. Harry snorted lightly. Yes, a guy with blue hair told me that I should really be a part of the mafia, and basically threw a hissy fit when I said no. Harry waited for any sort of snarky comment, but when none came, he sighed.

"Not really." They had to stop talking when they entered the Transfiguration classroom. Harry hoped they would be busy today so he could distract himself. However, when McGonagall announced that she would be collecting the Hogsmeade permission slip, Harry's mood went south.

Sooner than he hoped, Harry was waving goodbye to Ron and Hermione as they left for Hogsmeade. When he could no longer see them, he turned around and began to wander around the castle. He briefly considered going to the library to see if he could find anything on the mafia and the flames before he remembered that they were muggles, not wizards. Throwing that idea out the window, Harry continued to wander around. Even now, Mukuro had yet to say anything to him despite the things that he had thought about or said.

"Harry?" Harry blinked, and turned around. Professor Lupin stood by a door. "Why aren't at Hogsmeade with the others?" he asked.

"I didn't have my form signed," Harry told him.

"Ah... Would you like to join me?" Lupin offered. Harry thought for a moment, before shrugging. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Harry followed Lupin into his office. "Tea?" he offered. Harry nodded, and Lupin busied himself with a kettle. "I only have tea bags, but I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?" Harry blinked.

"How─"

"Professor McGonagall told me," Lupin said. "Are you worried?" he asked a moment later, looking at Harry in concern, holding out the tea.

"No," Harry said, accepting the cup of tea. Lupin still frowned.

"Is something else bothering you?" Harry opened his mouth to give the automatic no response, before he thought of another idea.

"Professor, have you ever been to Italy or know anything about Italian wizards?" Harry asked. He flushed a little when Lupin looked bewildered. To be fair, it was a rather random question in any other circumstances. Lupin chuckled a little.

"Are you interested in going to Italy?" he asked. Harry shrugged.

"I was just curious about other countries," he said, taking a sip of the tea.

"Well, I was only in Italy briefly quite a few years ago," Lupin said. "They have a different culture, obviously, but their wizarding world isn't that much different than ours. Besides the language, and─"

"Drinking habits," Harry added, remembering somewhere that kids there could drink wine. Lupin laughed again.

"Yes, besides the language and drinking habits, they're very similar to us," Lupin said. Harry wondered if Mukuro would say anything, but like before, he was silent. Harry and Lupin continued to talk, which included their first lesson on boggarts, and Lupin explained that he thought Voldemort would appear, so he didn't want Harry to face it, which caused Harry to sit in shock for a few moments. Harry snapped out of it when Snape walked in with a smoking goblet. Harry gaped as Snape and Lupin exchanged a few words before Snape left.

"Uh..."

"I've been feeling off-color, so this potion is the only thing that helps," Lupin explained. "I'm lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape, as there aren't many who are up to making this." Harry watched as Lupin took a sip of it, and shuddered.

••••••

Harry grinned when Ron and Hermione told him about Hogsmeade, sounding like they had the time of their lives.

"So what did you do?" Hermione asked. Harry told them about wandering around, and ending up in Lupin's office, and also told them about Lupin drinking Snape's potion. As expected, they both were surprised.

"Is he mad?" Ron said.

"If he was trying to, you know," Hermione muttered as they slipped through the portrait hole to head to the Great Hall, "poison him, he wouldn't do it in front of Harry."

"Yeah... Snape's not that dumb," Harry muttered.

As always, the Great Hall was magnificently decorated, tan the feast was delicious. Even Ron and Hermione, who were filled from their trip to Hogsmeade, helped themselves to second servings. After a reenactment of Nearly Headless Nick’s botched beheading, it was time for bed.

In the corridor towards the Fat Lady's portrait, students were jammed in the area.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" Ron asked. They tried to peer through the students, and, from what Harry could see, the portrait was closed.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice. Moments after he pushed through the crowd, silence fell, and Percy sharply said, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick." Soon enough, Dumbledore was there, and when he went through the crowd, Harry got a clearer look at the portrait. The Fat Lady was no longer in her portrait. Instead, the canvas was slashed through, and there were chunks littered on the floor.

When Dumbledore turned around and announced that the Fat Lady needed to be found, Peeves made himself known, and announced that it was Sirius Black that had done it. This caused Dumbledore to make the decision to have all the Gryffindors return to the Great Hall, which they were later joined by the students from the other houses. Announcing that they are going to conduct a thorough search, Dumbledore said that they would be staying in the hall for the night. After clearing the tables and giving them sleeping bags, he left. Dragging their sleeping bags towards a secluded corner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked for a bit, overheard a bit of the conversation between Dumbledore and Snape, before finally falling asleep.

••••••

Harry smirked a little before he opened his eyes. Slowly standing up from where he had been lying down, he spotted Mukuro standing near the lake. As Harry walked towards him, Mukuro backed away from the lake.

"Let me guess, you got bored?" Harry said, as soon as he was in earshot of Mukuro.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mukuro said stiffly. Harry glanced at the lake as well, and walked over until he was at the edge. He couldn't see any signs of the Giant Squid.

"Do you know how to swim?" Harry asked. Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "You didn't want to stand close to the lake," Harry elaborated.

"I do," Mukuro said slowly, "but after spending almost half a year in a water tank, I'm not too fond of water at the moment," he finished dryly.

"Oh." Harry stayed silent.

"You can still talk," Mukuro said. Harry walked away from the lake, and looked towards Hogwarts. Harry still found it eerie when it was empty, even though he considered it to be his home.

"How's Chrome and the others?" Harry asked. Mukuro shrugged a little.

"Chrome's doing better than I expected─" Harry raised an eyebrow at his wording, but Mukuro ignored him, "─and as far as I know, everyone else is okay."

"Are you still annoyed about our last conversation?" Harry asked.

"I was."

"But you're not anymore?" Mukuro shrugged.

"It's up to you to decide if you want to," Mukuro said. Harry gave a sigh a relief. "But just keep in mind that you have the rings, and enough people with the future memories remember you." Harry resisted the urge to punch him in the face. He did not need that reminder.

"But I honestly don't want to be a part of it," Harry muttered. Mukuro chuckled.

"That's only going to fall on deaf ears. Like it or not, your future self _did_ help out the Vongola." Harry gritted his teeth, and pick up a rock from the ground, and chucked it as hard as he could into the lake. Waiting for Harry to get his frustrations out, Mukuro turned towards the castle, and examined it again. "Is there any reason in particular you are so opposed to the idea? At this point, you sound exactly like Tsunayoshi Sawada, and it's starting to get a bit old." Harry stared at him.

"Who?" It was Mukuro's turn to stare.

"The one who looks incompetent enough to not be able to do anything, and with brown hair messy enough to make yours look neat," Mukuro said slowly. Harry glared at him, and automatically (and pointlessly) reached up to try and flatten his hair. He winced again at the sharp pain that went through his head, but was able to put a face to the name. Tsunayoshi Sawada, or Tsuna as he liked to be called, was the 10th leader of the Vongola Famiglia.

"Right..." Harry muttered. "Anyway," he said in a louder voice, "the mafia is bad. I don't have to go into details, do I?" Harry said. "They work with the underground, and do a lot of ruthless and unforgivable things, and even though the Vongola seem to be better than a lot of the others, they aren't exactly exempt from all this." Mukuro made a noncommittal sound. "And─" The mindscape flickered, and Harry groaned out loud. "Already?" He glared at Mukuro. "This always happens when we start talking about something important. I honestly think you're doing this on purpose," Harry complained.

"Believe me, you're not the only one irritated," Mukuro said darkly, also looking annoyed. "Unfortunately for you, this is out of my control. Don't forget, I still have to make sure all of Chrome's organs are functioning properly." With a jolt, Harry remembered that Chrome had lost a good number of her organs in an accident.

"Then why are you still here?" Harry shot back at him. "Stop wasting energy here, and make sure she's okay." Mukuro laughed.

"Concerned for Chrome?"

"Well, yeah..." Harry said, shrugging. Even though he had technically yet to meet her, his future self had been concerned about her and the others, and mentally associated her with people like Hermione or Ginny; someone he likened as a younger sister of sorts (even though Hermione was older than him... so maybe not Hermione, but definitely Ginny).

"Very well then. Until next time." Mukuro disappeared as well as Hogwarts and the grounds. "By the way," Harry jumped as Mukuro's voice echoed around him, "Chrome is older than you."

"Eh?"

••••••

Over the next few days, people speculated about how Sirius Black got in. The Fat Lady's slashed portrait was removed and replaced by, to everyone's dismay, Sir Cadogan, who spent most of the time either challenging people to duels or changing the password twice a day.

He also noticed that teachers were trailing him, and McGonagall, once again, brought up the fact that the Gryffindor Quidditch team trained late in the evening. But when Harry mentioned that the match was near and that Hooch was already watching them, McGonagall gave in, but Harry had a feeling that she, personally, was going to watch them too.

"So he _is_ after you," Ron said. "Why else would everyone be making a big deal for you?" Harry groaned. He would’ve asked Mukuro what he thought, but it looked like Mukuro was actually listening to him, so he was silent (though Harry could still sense his presence).

"Leave him alone Ron," Hermione said. "We don't know what's going on, and there's no point in making Harry worry about it. He has already enough to worry about." Harry groaned again at the reminder. They had just found out that they were playing Hufflepuff, not Slytherin, in the next match.

••••••

Predictably, the storm had gotten even bigger, and Harry's mood, which was already low from the previous day's DADA class with Snape, plummeted.

Standing on the field waiting for Hufflepuff to reach the center, Harry also realized that Cedric had the advantage. With his heavier build, he wouldn't be as likely to be thrown off by the wind as Harry would be. At the sound of the whistle, Harry kicked off, and immediately started to swerve slightly in the air. Soaked to the bone and blind because of the rain, Harry almost became unseated by a bludger, twice. Harry was greatly relieved when during their timeout, Hermione spelled his glasses to repel water. Now that he could see, he had a better chance at finding the Snitch.

Looking back, Harry wondered if someone had cursed his first match of the year, since every year, something always happened. Trying to catch up to Cedric, Harry felt them before anyone could see them. When he stopped and looked down, he saw hundreds of dementors in the stadium, all looking up at him. Harry felt his hands slip as he heard the voice of a woman pleading, and a higher pitched voice telling her to move. And then he fell.

••••••

When he came to, he was in the hospital wing; he almost at once noticed Mukuro's lack of presence in his mind. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was gathered around his bed. From what they told him, Cedric caught the Snitch right after he fell, and even though he wanted a rematch, Hufflepuff still won. Even though the team started discussing the points needed to win, Harry laid there, stunned that he lost a match for the first time.

"What happened to my broomstick?" Harry asked, after Ron and Hermione (The team was kicked out by Madam Pomfrey) explained what happened after he fell. They both exchanged glances, and Hermione reached down to grab a bag.

"The wind blew it towards the..." Hermione trailed off.

"Towards what?"

"The... the Whomping Willow," Hermione finished, emptying the bag.

••••••

Harry spent the next few weeks feeling hollow. While everyone thought it was because of the match (it was, but not completely), Harry kept thinking about the dementors and the voice he heard, which he now knew was of his mother protecting him from Voldemort.

Harry was relieved when classes started back up again. During DADA, Lupin told them they didn't have to do their werewolf essay, and spent the class talking about a hinkypunk.

"Wait a moment, Harry. I'd like a word," Lupin said after class. Bewildered, Harry stayed back. Lupin began to ask about his broom, and Harry told him that it couldn't be fixed. Lupin then explained how the Whomping Willow was planted the year he entered Hogwarts.

"Did you hear about the dementors?" Harry asked.

"I did," Lupin said slowly.

"Why do they affect me like that? Am I just─"

"It has nothing to do with weakness," Lupin interrupted sharply. "They affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others do not have." Harry stared at the ground. That would explain a lot, and also explains Mukuro's reactions too. Harry numbly listened as Lupin explained what the dementors do, and that muggles can sense them, even if they can't see them.

"When they get close to me, I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum." Lupin flinched and made an odd motion with his arm. "Professor, you made the one on the train leave," Harry said, looking at Lupin hopefully.

"There are certain defenses one can use," Lupin said slowly.

"Can you teach it to me?" Harry said at once. Lupin sighed.

"I'm not an expert..."

"But if they show up again..." Harry said. Lupin looked at Harry's determined face, and hesitated.

"Alright. I'll try and help you, though it'll have to wait until next term..."

••••••

It was less than two weeks left in term when Mukuro made his reappearance.

"Why are you in bad mood?" Mukuro asked when Harry woke up in his mindscape.

"There's another Hogsmeade weekend coming up..." Harry said. "Are you okay?" At Mukuro's questioning look, Harry elaborated, "The dementors?"

"I'm fine," Mukuro said shortly. "I wasn't the one that fell 50 feet and hit the ground though."

"It was a soft ground," Harry said with a nervous laugh. Mukuro didn't look amused. "I seriously think the first match of the year is cursed," Harry said.

"What happened in your past two years?" Mukuro asked, looking slightly curious.

"Well, in my first year, a professor tried to kill me by jinxing my broom to throw me off." Harry snickered at the look on his face. "But last year, a professor actually managed to remove all the bones in my arm." Harry was now laughing at the look on Mukuro's face. "Besides the match, Lupin agreed to teach me how to stop dementors." Mukuro looked satisfied.

"That will be helpful."

"Did _I_ miss anything?" Harry asked.

"Not really. The 9th told Tsunayoshi Sawada that he's going to officially make him the 10th leader of the Vongola famiglia, but that's it."

"Oh, okay─ what!?" Harry gaped at him. "It's becoming official?" Mukuro nodded.

"It seems so." Harry blinked.

"Oh, well... congratulations to Tsuna... I guess," Harry said. Mukuro smirked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was contemplating about running away," he said.

"Poor guy," Harry said, pitying Tsuna. He sure had it rough. Harry remembered the last conversation they had, and opened his mouth, before Mukuro cut him off.

"I can't stay long," Mukuro said, and Harry had the sudden urge to hex him. "Anything else to mention that can be wrapped up in the next minute?" Harry shook his head, but glared at Mukuro, who ignored him. "Then, arrivederci." When Harry blinked, he was gone.

••••••

After Ron and Hermione left for Hogsmeade, Harry decided to borrow a copy of _Which Broomstick_ and look up a broom he could use. The school broom he was using now was slow and jerky, and he really needed a new one.

"Psst! Harry!" Harry doubled back to see Fred and George peering from behind a statue of a hump-backed witch. Ten minutes later, he stood in the room by himself holding the Marauder's Map in his hand.

_'That's actually some clever bit of magic.'_ Harry jumped when Mukuro spoke. He almost forgot that Mukuro could speak to him without being in his mindscape.

"Yeah," Harry said softly. "I'm going," Harry decided.

_'Go ahead,'_ Mukuro said. Following the directions from the map, Harry entered the tunnel, and started walking. After what felt like hours, Harry reached the end, and climbed the steps. After hitting his head on the trap door, he pushed it opened, and found himself in a cellar. Managing to slip past an employee, Harry found himself in Honeydukes. Grinning, he found Ron and Hermione, and snuck up behind them as they were discussing candy to bring him.

"How about these?" Ron said, holding a jar of Cockroach Clusters.

"Definitely not," Harry said, grinning as Ron almost dropped the jar, and Hermione gasped. After explaining to them about the map, Ron and Hermione took Harry out of the shop, and walked around, showing Harry the sights. Deciding that it was too cold to stay outside, they decided to enter the Three Broomsticks. After Ron got them drinks, they sat for a few minutes, drinking the warm beverage. Hearing the door open and feeling the breeze, Harry looked towards the door, and chocked. McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and the Minister, Fudge, just entered the pub. A split second later, Ron and Hermione both placed their hands on Harry's head, and pushed him until he was under the table. Pulling out her wand, Hermione muttered a spell, and moved the nearest Christmas tree so that it covered their table.

With growing dread, Harry listened as the four of them, with Madam Rosemerta, talked about how Sirius Black was best friends with his father, and how he later betrayed his parents to Voldemort. As soon as their conversation ended and they left, Ron and Hermione both looked at him in concern. He ignored them, and headed straight for Honeydukes to go back to Hogwarts through the tunnel. Halfway through the earthy passageway, Harry stopped, and collapsed onto the ground.

"Did you hear them?" he muttered.

_'I did,'_ Mukuro said after a moment.

"And?"

_'What do you want me to say?'_ Mukuro asked him.

"I know you can hear my thoughts," Harry said, in what would have been an annoyed voice had he had any energy.

_'You want me to comment on you wanting revenge?'_ Mukuro said slowly.

"I'd figure you would say something like 'don't do it' or 'clear your head' or something," Harry said.

_'If I could, I would probably say clear your head.'_

"Why don't you?" Harry asked. Mukuro stayed silent. After a few minutes, Harry assumed that Mukuro wasn't going to speak anymore, so he began to stand up.

_'I can't say that, because it would be hypocritical of me, since that was exactly what I did.'_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Harry, who had been in the process of standing up, froze. He ignored the pain in his knees from kneeling on the ground, and slowly went over what Mukuro had said. His anger momentarily forgotten, Harry hesitantly asked, "Is that why you're in Vendicare right now? The first time?"

_"Yes..."_ Mukuro responded after a few moments. Harry slowly sat back down on the floor, and absentmindedly rubbed his knees. After hearing what they said at the Three Broomsticks, Harry had suddenly fantasized about running out and finding Sirius Black. Black, still dressed in his prison robes, would then mock Harry about his parents, and Harry, with a simple spell, would disarm him, and knock him flat. With his hand around Black's throat, Harry would have then— He had stopped there, not sure what he wanted to happen after that. Demand to know why he had betrayed his parents? Turn him in? Kill him?

"Do you think I would end up in Azkaban if I killed him?" Harry asked. "Even though he’s a criminal?"

_"I think so,"_ Mukuro said, hesitating a little. _"People don't usually like it when someone becomes the executioner."_ Harry snorted.

"Something tells me Dumbledore wouldn't be pleased," Harry muttered. "If I did do it, do you think I would regret it?"

_"Yes."_ Harry blinked. That was a fast answer. Harry closed his eyes, and leaned against the wall. Would he actually regret it? The image of him strangling Black crossed his mind and at once, Harry shuddered. He rubbed his arms to get rid of the sudden chill that he was feeling.

"Do you regret it?" Harry asked, wanted to get his mind off of Black.

_"Truthfully, I don't."_ Harry sat up and stared at the space in front of him as though Mukuro was standing in front of him.

"Really?" Harry wondered if Mukuro could sense how unnerved he was feeling right now.

_"People always believe that what they do is correct,"_ Mukuro said. _"It's part of human nature, and I'm no different."_

"So you acknowledge that you're human?" Harry said, grinning. "Could've sworn you mentioned how beneath we humans were once or twice. Have you joined us common folk now?"

_"Shut up you insufferable child."_ Harry scowled.

"I'm only two years younger than you," Harry deadpanned.

_"Then try and act your age. Anyone can easily mistaken you for an eight year old, with the way you behave."_

"What was that, old man?"

_"Old man!"_

"With the way you behave, anyone would think you're at least in your 50's with the way you nag—"

_"I don't nag!"_

"Looks like your memory is already going," Harry said, sighing. He started to grin when Mukuro didn't say anything. It looks like he won—

"Ow!" Harry grabbed the side of his head as it started to throb. "D-Did you just hit me?!"

_"It was exhausting, but so worth it."_ Harry scowled as he rubbed his head. At least he didn't get stabbed.

"I didn't know you could do that." Harry said.

_"Neither did I."_

"Anyway, as I was say—" Harry cut himself off. He quickly got to his feet, and brought his wand out.

_"What happened?"_

"I thought I heard something," Harry muttered. "Lumos." The tip of his wand lit up, and bathed the whole area with light. Appearing just at the edge of the darkness was─ “THE GRIM!” Harry made to back away, but he stumbled over a loose stone and fell. The area became dark as his wand slipped from his hand, and landed somewhere on the floor.

_“The Grim?”_ Mukuro asked. Harry didn’t say anything. Was the tunnel going to cave in now? _“Find your wand, now!”_ Harry processed what he said, and blindly reached out, and patted the ground around him until his fingers touched his wand. His fingers curled around it, and he slowly lifted it up again, and lit up the wand again. This time, he was ready for the Grim. It seemed to him that it didn’t move from its original position. The Grim stared into Harry’s eyes for a moment before it slowly looked down. Harry blinked.

“Is that an actual dog?” Harry asked slowly. Mukuro snorted.

_“You spent all this time panicking about the Grim, when in fact it was an actual dog.”_ Harry scowled when Mukuro kept laughing. Tuning him out, Harry slowly lowered his wand, so that it wasn’t aimed directly at the dog's face. Truthfully, he had never liked dogs, as they reminded him of Marge too much, but it didn’t change the fact that Harry felt slightly guilty for overreacting and, no doubt, scaring the dog. Kneeling on the ground, Harry motioned to the dog.

“Come here, boy,” Harry said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. The dog looked up, and tilted its head. A moment later, it slowly approached him. Smiling a little, Harry slowly and awkwardly scratched behind the dog’s ear. “Sorry for scaring you, boy,” Harry said. “Er- if you are a boy… Are you a boy- er- male I mean?” The dog barked. Harry’s smile widened when the dog began to nuzzle his hand. “Not all dogs are as bad as Marge’s,” Harry commented.

_“Obviously,”_ Mukuro scoffed. The dog looked up at Harry, and Harry began to pat him. Upon closer examination, Harry realized how filthy the dog actually was.

“You really need a bath,” Harry muttered.

_“How did the dog get here in the first place?”_ Harry blinked, and stared at the dog.

“How did you get in here?” Harry asked. The dog stared at Harry for a moment before it turned around and faced the direction towards Hogsmeade. “Through Honeydukes?” The dog barked. “How did you get through without anyone noticing?”

_“You got through with no problem,”_ Mukuro pointed out. _“Besides, I’m surprised that it can understand what you’re saying.”_

“Hedwig understands me,” Harry muttered. The dog turned around to look at Harry.

_“Ah, a familiar then?”_ That comment reminded Harry.

“Where’s your owner?” Harry asked the dog. The dog drooped its ears, and Harry frowned. “I hope that meant you don’t have one instead of you were abandoned by one.” The dog barked, but Harry had no idea which statement it was for.

_“You should get back. You’ve been away for awhile,”_ Mukuro said.

“Ron and Hermione are probably looking for me right now,” Harry said, biting his lip. He looked down at the dog, and leaned towards him. “I’m sorry, I have to go back now.” The dog drooped his ears again, and Harry couldn’t look away. The tunnel was cold, and it was doubtful that the dog was eating well considering how thin he was.

_“Don’t even think─”_

“How good are you at hiding yourself?” The dog perked up, and panted happily. “If anyone at Hogwarts sees you, they might send you away.”

_“This is a stupid─”_ Ignoring Mukuro, Harry gestured the dog to follow him, which it did so happily. Reaching the entrance behind the witch, Harry opened it, and listened closely for any footsteps. Not hearing anything, Harry helped the dog through the opening before he pushed himself through as well. Standing on the third floor, Harry closed the entrance, and silently prayed that they wouldn’t get busted.

“Can you hide here for a little bit? I’ll go run up to my dorm, and grab my Invisibility Cloak.” The dog gave a soft bark, and immediately hid behind the statue. Grinning a little, Harry started to run back towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Ignoring the people that were staring at them, Harry grabbed his cloak, and ran back down to the third floor. Clutching a stitch in his side, Harry collapsed near the statue. Panting, he gestured towards the dog to come out, and draped the cloak around him, turning him invisible. Harry noticed that Mukuro disconnected, but he wasn’t surprised that Mukuro reached his limit. He had been around since the morning, and had been talking to Harry nearly the whole time.

“Harrikins?” Still breathing heavily, Harry looked around to see the Weasley twins.

“You didn’t go?” George asked, looking a little concerned. Fred took in Harry’s flushed face and heaving chest.

“Did you get caught?” Fred asked. Harry shook his head. He slowly stood up, ignoring his screaming muscles. He was really out of shape.

“I just wanted to leave early, but on my way back, I... er... found a dog that was by itself in the cold.”

“And you brought it back with you,” George finished, looking at Harry incredulously. Harry gave a nervous grin. The twins looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

“Where is it?” Fred asked, wiping his eyes. Harry tried (and failed) to glare at them. He glanced down at where the dog was, and remembered with a jolt that the twins didn’t know about his cloak. Harry bit his lip. He didn’t really want to show it to them, but they did give him the map, so they deserve to know. The twins exchanged glances, but didn't say anything.

Harry reached down and pulled the cloak off. Holding the Invisibility Cloak with one hand, he scratched the dog with the other. He looked up at the twins, and predictably, they were staring at him with their jaws dropped and their eyes wide.

"Harry-"

"Is that an-"

"Invisibility cloak?" Harry nodded.

"With something like that-"

"Our lives would have been so much easier."

"How come you didn't tell us before?"

"Unless less you just got it?" Harry shook his head.

"I got it back in my first year. It had originally belonged to my dad... so..." Harry trailed off.

"Oh..." George cleared his throat.

"Anyway, we can discuss this later. The poor dog is skin and bones. He needs to get some food.

"You'll help me?" Harry asked.

"Of course. Do you have the map?" Harry made to take it out, but Fred stopped him.

"Just cover him up again in the cloak. We don't need the map for something so simple."

"True," George agreed. Once the dog was covered up again, Harry followed the twins as they headed downstairs. Taking a different turn, they ended up not in the dungeons, but a much warmer corridor where the walls were decorated with various paintings of food. Seeing all this, Harry's stomach growled. He barely had breakfast and had completely skipped lunch.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked as they kept walking. He almost walked into Fred, when the twins suddenly stopped in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit.

"Just watch," Fred said, grinning as George reached up, and tickled the pear. The pear giggled, and turned into a handle.

"Hands and paws to yourself now kids." George pulled the handle and opened the door, and at once, different smells of meats, sweets, and spices hit Harry's nose, and Harry's stomach growled again. Fred pushed Harry in through the door. Harry felt the dog come in with him as George closed the door behind them.

"D-Dobby?"

"Nope," Fred said. "They're house-elves that work in the school. So, they're house-elves like Dobby, but not the nutter himself."

"How did you even find this place?" Harry asked, gaping.

"We've been exploring the place for years, so naturally we would've eventually come here-"

"The Marauders?" Harry cut in dryly.

"Bingo."

"How can we's help Masters today?" Harry jumped. He hasn't even noticed the house-elf approach them.

"Uh..."

"So, we found a dog that's in need of a bath and good food," George said. The house-elf tilted its head, but nodded all the same.

"And our friend here needs some food, too," Fred added, gesturing to Harry. A few other house-elves surrounded them pushing food into their hands. Harry cringed every time they called him master, but since he was hungry, he took the food and didn't say anything. As he watched the house-elf from earlier take the dog away, George quickly reassured him that the elf was just giving him a bath.

"Where would be a good place for him to stay?" Harry asked, as he munched his way through his second treacle tart.

"We could always use an abandoned classroom," Fred suggested.

"That could work," George said.

"What if someone finds him though?" Harry said.

"Unless they're like us, and like to explore at night, it isn't likely," George said. "Besides, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to train him to hide if it hears someone."

"I think he used to be a familiar," Harry added.

"Since he likes you, just tell him to hide, and he'll do it." Harry nodded, and took the last bite in his sandwich.

"Did you see Ron and Hermione on your back to the castle?" Harry asked.

"We did, actually," Fred said.

"They did look kind of worried, to be honest," George said. They both stared at him. "We'll take care of the rest. Go and see them."

"I can't just leave you guys to—" Fred grabbed a small basket with food, and stuffed it into Harry's hands.

"It's just a dog. We can handle it," Fred said, as he pushed Harry towards the door. Harry's protest fell on deaf ears, and a moment later, he was out in the corridor. Pulling out the cloak that Fred had put in the basket, Harry covered himself and went back to the common room.

••••••

Naturally, the moment Harry stepped foot into the common room, Ron and Hermione dragged him up to the empty dormitory, and sat him down on his bed. He knew what they wanted to talk about, but that was the last thing Harry wanted to even think about.

"I found a dog," Harry said, cutting off Hermione who had opened her mouth. They both stared at him.

"A dog?" Ron repeated.

"A dog," Harry confirmed.

"And?"

"He's in the castle right now. Fred and George helped me find a way to take care of him."

"But Harry—"

"Hermione," Ron said, cutting her off, "relax. Harry obviously doesn't want to talk about it." Ron turned back towards Harry. "What does it look it?"

"The Grim, actually," Harry said, causing Ron's eyes to bulge.

"The Grim!"

"It's not _the_ Grim though. Fred and George both saw him along with the house-elves."

"See Ron," Hermione said, smirking a little, "I told you it's just a regular dog. The twins didn't overreact along with the— House-elves?!" Harry winced a little. "There are house-elves here?"

"Who do you think does the cooking and cleaning?" Ron asked.

"I thought that there were spells and..." Hermione muttered.

"I heard they're in the kitchens though, and Fred and George won't tell me where- did they show you where the kitchens are?!"

"Yes..." Ron scowled.

"Unbelievable. They won't tell their own brother, but you..." Ron continued to grumble.

"You'll get into big trouble if the dog gets caught," Hermione said, taking a seat next to Harry.

"But I couldn't just leave him to freeze and starve in the cold," Harry said.

"I know."

"For the record Hermione, we've all done much worse than having an illegal dog," Ron said from his bed.

"That's true..." Hermione said. They spent the rest of the time talking about Hogsmeade while ignoring the Three Broomsticks completely. By the time night fell, Hermione returned to her dorm, Ron fell fast asleep, and Harry lied on his stomach as he looked through the photo album Hagrid had gifted to him two years ago. Pausing at the picture of his parents wedding, Harry fully examined the best man. He had previously ignored everyone else in the picture in favor of staring at his parents, but now looking at him closely, Harry could see the resemblance between the handsome man in the photo and the thin, haunted man in the newspapers. Harry had a nagging feeling that the Black in the photo looked really familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Putting the album away, he curled up under his blanket and fell asleep. Mukuro didn't contact him.

••••••

The next day, the dormitory was empty as it was the first day of break. Heading down the stairs, Harry saw Ron and Hermione sitting together, whispering about something.

“Oh, Harry, I was just about to wake you,” Ron said, noticing Harry. Harry walked over and sat down on the couch next to Ron. When Harry didn’t say anything, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.

“Harry, are you alright?” Hermione asked in concern. Harry mentally shook himself.

“I’m fine,” Harry said. “We should go down to Hagrid’s.” Ron and Hermione exchanged another glance, but Harry pretended to not notice.

“To talk about Black─”

“He would know better than us about how to take care of a dog,” Harry said loudly, cutting Hermione off. After seeing the picture and the dream he had, Black was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

“Good idea, let’s go,” Ron said, standing up. As soon as they were ready, they made their way outside, and trudged their way through the snow. After reaching his cabin, they knocked, but when there was no answer, they all exchanged worried glances. Hearing Fang, Harry banged on the door harder.

“Hagrid!” The door finally opened, Hagrid with red, swollen eyes, threw himself onto Harry, who almost collapsed. After getting Hagrid inside, he showed them the letter about Buckbeak’s trial. After getting him some tea, Harry, Ron, and Hermione promised to help him find information about the trial. After reassuring him that his classes were good, the three of them left for the castle. It was only when they entered the castle that Harry remembered that he never asked Hagrid about how to take care of a dog.  

“You can just ask later,” Ron said. “Could you show us this Grim dog?”

“Could you stop calling him that?” Harry said.

“Then what should I call him?” Ron asked. Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

“You didn’t give him a name, did you?” Hermione asked.

“It’s only been a day,” Harry complained. Hermione laughed while shaking her head.

“Come on, where’s the dog?”

“Ron!” Harry hissed when Ron said it a bit too loud. “We have an illegal dog on our hands. No need to announce it to everyone.” Before Ron could complain again, Harry led them downstairs towards the kitchen. Double checking the note from the twins, he stopped short of the kitchen corridor, and headed down a corridor of unused classrooms. Counting the doors, Harry stopped in front of the sixth door. He softly knocked on the door.

“Hey boy, it’s me, Harry,” he said against the closed door, confident that the dog would hear him. “I brought some friends with me, so don’t get alarmed.” Ron snorted behind him.

“He can’t understand you,” he muttered. Harry rolled his eyes, and pushed open the door. The room didn’t have a speck of dust on any of its surfaces, and in the corner of the room away from the door was a doggy bed, and on it, the dog was standing, wagging his tail. Smiling, Harry approached him, crouched down, and began to scratch him behind the ear.

“Woah, it actually does look like the Grim,” Ron said.

“How would you even know what a Grim looked like?” Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, from stories and drawings people made before they died gave a general description of them,” Ron said. Hermione rolled her eyes, and approached Harry and the dog.

“Any ideas for names?” she asked. Harry shook his head. Hermione thought for a moment. “How about Mr. Bigglesworth?” Harry and Ron both stared at her.

“What?” Ron said slowly.

“Mr. Bigglesworth,” Hermione repeated.

“Where did you even get a name like that from?” Ron asked in disbelief.

“A neighbor of mine had a pet hamster named that, and I thought it was cute.”

“Merlin… I thought Ginny was bad,” Ron said, shaking his head.

“How about Snoopy,” Harry said slowly.

“Snoopy?” Ron asked, confused.

“It was a cartoon that would air on TV sometimes,” Hermione explained. Harry nodded.

“I saw Dudley watch it a few times.”

“It’s better than Mr. Bigglesworth anyway,” Ron said, ignoring Hermione’s glare.

“Ron!” Harry sighed, and looked back at the dog.

“Is Snoopy fine?” he asked the dog. The dog barked and wagged his tail. Harry grinned. “Alright then, Snoopy.”

••••••

Every day since then, Harry made sure to visit Snoopy at least once a day. The days when Ron and Hermione were bickering, Harry visited him multiple times and even stayed half the day with him. Snoopy was a great listener that didn’t lecture him back.

Christmas Eve, Harry made sure to stop by the kitchens to ask that Snoopy get a big breakfast tomorrow. The house-elves readily agreed, and Harry expressed his gratitude.

Harry figured that on Christmas morning, he would open his gifts with Ron, and then go down to the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione. Naturally, things didn’t go according to plan, as Harry woke up to see that someone got him a Firebolt, _the_ Firebolt. As he and Ron searched for a card or any other identifier, Hermione walked in with Crookshanks. While he and Ron were excited, Hermione looked worried.

“Who’d send Harry something expensive as that, and not tell him who’s it from?” Hermione asked.

“Who cares,” Ron said, rolling his eyes. “Hey, Harry, can I have a go on it─”

“I don’t think anyone should ride that broom yet!” Hermione shouted.

“What do you think Harry is going to do with it? Sweep the floor?” Before anyone else could say anything, Crookshanks jumped and attacked Ron. It was clear, however, that it was going for Scabbers. After some shouting and Ron being injured, Hermione took Scabbers and left. Harry cleaned up the mess they made, determined not say that he thought Scabbers was dying.

On their way to lunch, Hermione and Ron stayed silent, and Harry mentally sighed. They saw that there was only one table present, so they awkwardly took a seat with the other professors and three other students. Besides that, the only other event worth noting was Trelawney joining them. Harry overheard that Lupin was ill again. As he and Ron finished their lunch, Hermione decided to stay to talk to Professor McGonagall, so they two of them got up to leave. They, as always, disregarded Trelawney’s warning, and headed back to the common room. Ron had him bring down the Firebolt, and the two of them spent some time admiring the broom.

Sometime later, the portrait hole opened, and Hermione and McGonagall walked in. Harry and Ron both stared at them, and Harry numbly processed that McGonagall was going to confiscate his Firebolt. Harry’s protest fell to deaf ears, as McGonagall walked away with his broom. Ron furiously turned towards Hermione.

“What did you go running to McGonagall for?!” Hermione flushed, but stood her ground.

“Because I thought that, and Professor McGonagall agrees with me, that that broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!”

••••••

Harry couldn’t care less that Ron and Hermione were bickering right now. He didn’t want to see anyone right now, let alone speak to anyone. Harry continued to absentmindedly scratch Snoopy’s head as he tried to calm himself down.

_“Happy Christmas.”_ Harry was surprised. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“Thanks,” Harry said. “Happy Christmas to you too.” Snoopy lifted his head from the pillow he was lying on next to Harry, and stared at Harry. Harry flushed, and patted his head. “Sorry about that,” Harry muttered. Snoopy tilted his head, but lied back down again, and Harry resumed patting his head.

_“To be fair, that is a reasonable concern.”_ Harry groaned. He really didn’t want to have this conversation.

‘I know it was,’ Harry thought; he didn’t want to bother Snoopy by talking out loud.

_“Then why are you so angry at her?”_ Mukuro questioned.

‘I’m angry at her and myself.’ Harry could sense Mukuro’s confusion. ‘I’m angry at her for going behind my back, and getting the broom taken away, and I’m angry at myself for thinking that she was like Dudley.’ Even now, Harry felt his face warm in shame.

_“Was this a regular occurrence with the pig?”_ Harry couldn’t help himself and grinned.

‘Yeah. Anytime he saw me with something he wanted or well anything to be honest, he would tell Vernon or Petunia, and it would get taken away.’

_“And you’re actually angry at yourself for thinking that,”_ Mukuro mused.

‘Do you think it’s possible for Sirius Black to send me the Firebolt?’ Harry asked him. Mukuro stayed silent.

_“There are better and cheaper ways to curse and kill you,”_ Mukuro said after a minute. Harry couldn’t stop the snort that escape. Snoopy looked at him again.

‘Have you visited Chrome recently?’ Harry asked, changing the subject. Mukuro paused, but allowed the subject change.

_“I have nothing better to do,”_ Mukuro said. _“Vindice hate talking to prisoners, and they love to hate me.”_

‘Really, I could’ve sworn they were fans of Christmas parties,’ Harry thought. Both he and Mukuro, at that moment, pictured the Vindice attempting to party, and both of them couldn’t hold in their laughter. Snoopy actually stood up, and nudged Harry’s shoulder. Harry wiped the tears away from his eyes, and apologized again to Snoopy.

_“Truthfully, that was equal parts disturbing and funny,”_ Mukuro said, amusement still clear in his voice.

‘You have a point there,’ Harry thought. “I wonder if they’re having a Christmas party?’

_“They?”_

‘The Vongola?’

_“I have no idea. It would be likely.”_ Harry made a noncommittal sound. Harry was curious about them. How did they react going through the events of that future? It had to have affected them a lot; they were only a year or two older than him.

‘Could you...’

_“You want me to go check up on the Vongola?”_ Harry cringed at Mukuro’s incredulous tone.

‘Yes…’ A few moments later, Harry sighed in relief when he sensed Mukuro’s presence disappear. “Sorry we disturbed you,” Harry said out loud to Snoopy. Snoopy tilted his head. “Mukuro’s gone now.” Snoopy stared at him, and Harry sighed. “He believes that Sirius Black didn’t send the broom.” Snoopy seemed to perk up. “You heard the name before?” Harry asked. Snoopy seemed to hesitate before giving a small bark. “At Hogsmeade, I heard that he betrayed my parents, and is the reason they’re dead.” Snoopy laid himself on Harry’s lap. Harry smiled. “I didn’t tell Ron or Hermione this, but I really did want to go after him, and hunt him down.” Snoopy’s ears flattened, and Harry frowned a little. He resumed scratching his head. “Mukuro told me I shouldn’t be rash. He also said that there was a chance that I would go to Azkaban if I did.” Snoopy nuzzled his hand. “I don’t understand how anyone could survive being surrounded by dementors 24/7,” he muttered to himself. Snoopy looked at him sadly.

••••••

Once lessons started up again, Ron and Hermione weren’t talking to each other. Harry felt guilty, but he made no move to go search out Hermione. When questioned by Wood, he told him what had happened, and while Wood promised to go talk to McGonagall, Harry was positive he would fail.

His conversation with Wood reminded him about Lupin’s promise, so after class, he approached Lupin, and Lupin told him to stop by Thursday evening. Even though Harry was feeling apprehensive about the lesson, the knowledge that Mukuro wasn't present was sort of a relief. There was no point in having Mukuro suffer from the dementor as well.

Harry didn't really know what to expect, but Lupin had explained that the Patronus Charm was a N.E.W.T. level charm, so his expectations weren't high. The first few times, he failed. The most he was able to do was create a small puff of silver smoke. While Lupin thought it was good, it hadn't been enough to stop the dementor from affecting him. He had still heard his mother, and eventually heard his father, which greatly unnerved him. He was surprised to learn that Lupin knew his father, and he had been tempted to ask if he knew Sirius Black, but he couldn't bring himself to. For his last try, he had been able to hold off the dementor for a bit, but he was still not satisfied with the result. He didn't want to just hold them back; he wanted to make them flee.

••••••

As the months went on, Harry still hadn't gotten his broom back, and made no progress in his anti-dementor lessons. During one lesson, he mustered up the courage to ask Lupin what was under a dementor's hood. Finding out that there was a mouth that can suck out a person's soul put Harry off of food for the rest of the night and the next day.

Later that night, McGonagall stopped by the common room, and to Harry's surprise, returned the Firebolt. He had hoped that this would mean that Ron and Hermione would be back on speaking terms, but Ron's discovery that Scabbers was missing along with Crookshanks's hair at the scene quickly dashed that hope. Instead of actually picking a side, Harry spent all of his free time with Snoopy. To his annoyance, Mukuro hadn't made a reappearance, so he talked all of his frustrations out on Snoopy. Oddly enough, Snoopy himself seemed agitated. Harry guessed that for a dog to stay indoors all day must be uncomfortable.

Due to the Firebolt's capabilities, Gryffindor easily thrashed Ravenclaw during their Quidditch match, and thanks to the twins, the after party lasted quite some time.

Harry wasn't surprised when McGonagall turned up at one in the morning. Harry had expected her to tell them to head to bed, but one look at her face made him freeze. It only took a minute for the rest of the Gryffindors to notice her. The last time Harry had seen a similar expression on her face had been the year before after Hermione’s attack. Feeling apprehensive, Harry and the others waited for her to speak. Only after everyone was in the common room did McGonagall speak.

"Not too long ago, a portrait spotted Sirius Black roaming the halls, so as of now, all the houses are on lockdown." Harry caught Ron's eye as well as Hermione’s, though she looked away a moment later. The house stayed silent as they waited for word from McGonagall. It was near dawn before she returned to inform them that it seemed that he escaped.

Over the next few days, the security in the school was noticeably tightened. All the portraits were now on high alert, and the doors were being taught to recognize Sirius Black. Filch was walking around boarding every little crack. Ron had been the first one to bring up that the statue of the one-eyed witch was still unguarded. Harry had briefly considered the idea to tell someone about it, but if that happened, then he wouldn’t be allowed to go to Hogsmeade anymore.

“How many secret entrances are there?” Ron asked.

“According to the twins, seven, but Filch knows four of them, the fifth is caved in, and the sixth has the Whomping Willow over it,” Harry said, recalling what the twins had told him.

“So it’s just this one?” Ron said looking at the statue. Harry nodded. “I don’t think we should tell anyone, but maybe we should keep an eye on it?” Harry looked at Ron. It wasn’t likely that Sirius Black knew of the entrance, but if they kept an eye on it, then it wouldn’t be unguarded.

“That should work,” Harry said.

“Or we could ask your dog to keep watch,” Ron said.

“His name is Snoopy, and what part of illegal dog did you not understand?”

“Just an idea,” Ron muttered. “Anyway, we’ll just take turns keeping an eye on the map. Where is it anyway? Still in your trunk?” Harry nodded. He didn’t have much use for it, so there was no point in pulling it out. The two of them headed back to the common room. The rest of the day was spent in class or doing homework. By the time evening came, Harry offered to take first watch of the map. Settled on his bed, he opened the map up to the third floor, and began his watch.

Past midnight, Harry was startled awake. He groaned when he realized that he had fallen asleep. He grabbed the map from the edge of the bed, and turned the pages to find the third floor again. Pausing at a page, Harry stared at the dot that slipped into the Forbidden Forest. His wand slipped from his hand, and the map soon followed as he gaped. _There was no way… The map’s lying._ Harry glanced over towards Ron’s bed, but thought better of it. What was he going to say? Peter Pettigrew, the wizard Sirius Black killed, is in the forest? Harry was already rummaging in his trunk for his cloak when he realized that he couldn’t go after someone in the forest, especially when it was this late at night. “Snoopy.” Harry snatched the map from his bed, and began to look for him. He wasn’t in his room, so Harry began to scan the hallways, and for the second time, he dropped his wand. Sirius Black was in the castle.

••••••

Harry desperately wished that Mukuro was here right now. He hadn’t made a reappearance since Christmas. He probably would have been lecturing him on his recklessness or something, but someone who clearly knew more than him would have been helpful. He had tried to see if he could contact him himself, but that was a complete failure.

Gripping the map and his wand tightly, Harry snuck past the portraits and headed downstairs. There weren’t any portraits in the dungeon where the old classrooms were. Harry belatedly realized that he should have told someone where he was going just in case he didn’t come back. Or maybe he should have kept searching for Snoopy. Snoopy would have been a good guard dog. When he was one hallway away, Harry stopped. He took a deep breath, and put away the map. He held up his wand, and turned the corner, and stopped. Snoopy? He wasn’t anywhere near here, unless… Harry felt cold. Snoopy was…

“Snoopy.” The dog froze, and turned around when Harry pulled the cloak off. His wand was aimed straight at him. “Who are you?” Harry’s stomach clenched when Snoopy’s ears flattened. Snoopy took a few steps back, and just when Harry thought he was going to run, Snoopy began to change, and Harry gasped. A few seconds later, Sirius Black stood in front of him. The thin, pale, and gaunt man from the Daily Prophet was unrecognizable to this man. The regular meals, baths, and general care made him look more like the person from the wedding photo.

“Please don’t panic,” Sirius Black said, “I mean no harm.” His voice sounded scratchy from the lack of use, and the pained expression on his face made Harry look away. Harry did, however, lower his wand a bit. “Thank you,” he heard Sirius Black say. Wishing once again that Mukuro was here, Harry took a deep breath.

“You’re an animagus?” Harry asked, glancing back at Sirius Black’s face. He nodded.

“I am, but I’m not the only one,” he said, Harry raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“Look, I know what I’m about to say seems unbelievable, but it is the truth.” When he had Harry’s full attention, he continued. “I never… I would never betray Lily and James. I would sooner die than do that. And I also never killed Peter Pettigrew, because─”

“Because he’s alive,” Harry deadpanned. Sirius Black’s shoulders slumped.

“I know it sounds unbelievable, but…” he trailed off. Harry reached into his pocket, and pulled out the map.

“This is a─”

“You have the map?!” Sirius Black said, grinning a little.

“How did you know it was a map?” Harry asked. Sirius Black hesitated.

“We made it,” he said.

“You made it… You’re one of the Marauders?” Sirius Black nodded. “Can… Can the map lie?” Sirius Black frowned and shook his head.

“That’s impossible,” he said. “Why?” Harry swallowed.

“I saw Pettigrew’s name on the map earlier.” Sirius Black’s eyes widened. He stared at the map in Harry’s hand, and rushed forward to try and grab it. Harry jumped back, and stuffed the map back while holding his wand higher.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to─ but that’s─ that’s proof that what I’m saying is true.” Harry gripped his wand with two hands.

“That night, what happened?” Harry asked. The pained expression was back on his face, but this time, Harry didn’t look away. Sirius Black took a deep breath, and started talking. Harry’s wand lowered bit by bit, and at the end of his tale, his arm was down. Harry’s intuition practically screamed at him that he was telling the truth. Those kinds of expressions were hard to fake. Even so─ “I slept with Pettigrew in my dorm for two and a half years,” Harry said, feeling ill. Sirius looked at him in shock before he grinned a little.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay him back for that,” he said. He paused for a moment before clearing his throat. “Thank you for believing me.” Harry nodded. “I’d rather not imagine what would happen if you didn’t,” he continued. Harry thought about it for a moment, before deciding that he wasn’t going to say anything.

“What are you going to do now? Go after Pettigrew?” Sirius straightened up.

“Can I see the map?” he asked. Harry nodded. He handed it over, and Sirius grabbed it, and sat down against the wall. Harry hesitated before sitting down next to him. “Where did you see him?”

“He went into the forest close to Hagrid’s place.” Sirius was frowning as he glared at the spot on the map.

“He’s a rat, so he could be who knows where right now,” Sirius muttered.

“It’d be smarter to wait until he’s back on the grounds,” Harry said. Sirius sighed.

“I guess in the meantime, I’ll just stay as a dog.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“I spent 12 years in dog form. A bit longer is no issue to me.”

“I don’t suppose the name Snoopy bothered you?” Sirius snorted.

“It’s hell of a lot better than _Bigglesworth_.” Harry let out a small chuckle before he cut off. Sirius looked at him. “I know this is a lot to take in, but give it some time, and─”

“That’s not it. I understand what you told me, and I believe you.” ‘It just didn’t feel like the first time I heard this,’ Harry wanted to continue to say, but he stopped himself. Just an hour ago, he thought Sirius was a mass murderer who betrayed his parents, but now, Harry had no problem sitting next to him, talking to him, or even attempting at confiding in him.

“You probably got too used to _Snoopy_ ,” Sirius said. Harry looked at him. “That was bothering you a little, right?” Harry slowly nodded. That must have been it. “But there’s something else that’s bothering you, though,” Sirius continued.

“It’s nothing.” Sirius stared at him. They held a brief staring contest. Harry looked away first.

“What is it?”

“It really is nothing. Just a… friend of mine is ignoring me, so that was on my mind…”

“Granger?”

“Uh no, but now that you mention it, I have to apologize to her.” Harry stood up, and began to brush the dust off his clothes.

“So is it this ‘Mukuro’ person you kept mentioning.” Harry turned his head so fast that he almost cracked it. He opened his mouth to ask Sirius how he knew, before he remembered that he had been ranting at ‘Snoopy’ for the last couple of months. He had even talked to Mukuro with Snoopy being there. It’s a wonder that Sirius didn’t think he was insane considering the amount of times he had been talking to himself.

“He’s─er─a pen pal.” Sirius had a blank expression on his face, so Harry couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“So he’s been ignoring your messages?” Sirius asked.

“Yes…” Sirius was slowly shaking his head.

“He’s a─”

“An ass, I know.”

••••••

“You don’t think she’d really tell, d’you?” Ron asked as they climbed the slope towards the Shrieking Shack. ‘Snoopy’ was already ahead of them running around in circle and snapping at any nearby birds.

“Hermione wouldn’t do that,” Harry said. True to his word, Harry had approached Hermione, and apologized to her (after all, she had been right that Sirius Black did send that broom, but he wasn’t going to mention that detail). The rest of the afternoon, Hermione had sobbed into his arm. Unfortunately, she still decided to not hang out with them because she still wasn’t on good terms with Ron, and Ron’s behavior wasn’t helping. Harry had yet to tell them about Snoopy’s true identity. He had no idea when he was going to do that, but he knew he had to do it soon. He needed their help with Pettigrew.

“Shit, I promised to go get Ginny that─ Can we go back to Honeydukes?” Ron babbled.

“It’s packed in there,” Harry said. “I won’t be able to─” Ron waved him off.

“Then wait here. I’ll be right back.” The second Ron was out of sight, Sirius changed back. Harry gave him an odd look.

“What?” Sirius said.

“Nothing. It just seemed really convenient that Ron remembered he needed to get something,” Harry said.

“I didn’t do anything!” Harry smiled and turned around, and gazed at the Shrieking Shack.

“That was where you guys hung out?” Sirius nodded. “You never told me what kind of animal Professor Lupin could turn into,” Harry said, looking back at Sirius. Sirius frowned a little.

“I don’t mind telling you, but please don’t be harsh with him, and please don’t tell anyone.” Harry nodded. “He’s a werewolf,” Sirius said bluntly. Harry actually took a step back.

“R-Really?” Harry asked. Sirius nodded, giving him a critical look. “That does make sense. He gets ill every month… Doesn’t it hurt?” Sirius relaxed.

“It does.”

“And the other professors must know about it,” Harry said. “Earlier in the year, Snape did a lesson on werewolves, and made us do an essay on them.” Sirius growled.

“Snivellus did that?” Harry snorted at the name.

“That must have been why he assigned it. He wanted others to figure it out…”

_“That should have been obvious.”_ Harry almost slipped down the slope.

“Harry?” Sirius asked in concern.

‘WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?’ It took all of Harry’s effort to not yell it out loud.

_“Away,”_ Mukuro replied. _“Why?”_

‘I’ve been trying to contact you for the past couple of months!’ He clenched his fist when he heard Mukuro laugh. Was this all a joke to him?

_“Long story short, I’ve been busy,”_ Mukuro said. Harry was confused. He could sense the giddiness that had to have come from Mukuro. Why was he so happy?

‘What happened?’ Harry asked slowly. He could sense Mukuro’s grin.

_“I’m free,’_ Mukuro gleefully informed him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

‘You’re free,’ Harry repeated. He ignored Sirius who was still trying to get his attention.

_“The Vongola were fighting against another family, and the Vindice got involved. Basically, the winning family would get their members released.”_

‘People were imprisoned?!’

_“Everyone is free now, so don’t worry about it.”_

‘And?’ Harry prompted when Mukuro wasn't saying anything.

_“And?”_

‘It sounds like there’s something else you’re not saying,’ Harry said.

_“It’s nothing important,”_ Mukuro said a bit hastily. Harry decided to drop the subject.

‘Either way, congratulations…’

_“Thank you, and it seems like I have to go. Goodbye.”_ Harry felt Mukuro cut off.

“Harry?” He felt Sirius’s hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said. Before Sirius could say anything else, they heard Ron’s voice in the distance. Sirius transformed back into Snoopy just as Ron showed up on the path.

“Got it,” Ron said, holding up.

“Can we go back?” Harry asked. Ron blinked.

“Uh, sure.” Dragging Ron past Malfoy, the three of them entered Honeydukes, and Ron decided to join them in entering the tunnel. They dropped off ‘Snoopy’, and on their way back to the common room, they encountered a tearful Hermione who informed them of Buckbeak’s execution. Ron decided to apologize and started helping Hermione with researching information for Buckbeak.

••••••

Two months have gone by, and Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team faced Slytherin on the field. Ron and Hermione were convinced into bringing ‘Snoopy’ with them, so they weren’t with the rest of the Gryffindors. With his stomach clenching every so often, the Gryffindor team mounted their brooms, and at the sound of the whistle, kicked off. Harry made sure to listen to Lee Jordan’s commentary, since he needed to catch the snitch when they were fifty points up. By the time they were at 80-20 for Gryffindor, Harry and Malfoy were both against each other to reach the snitch. Smacking Malfoy’s arm away, Harry pulled into a dive with the snitch in his hand.

As the crowds were cheering, and the team was hoisted onto the shoulders of Gryffindor house, Harry spotted Ron and Hermione (and ‘Snoopy’ under the cloak no doubt). As Wood handed Harry the cup, the lack of any sound in his head became more pronounced.

••••••

The euphoria from winning the game lasted up till the exams, which then, understandably, panic took over. Harry and Ron gave up questioning Hermione about her classes, though he still couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow at her exam schedule. After their DADA exams, they had an uncomfortable encounter with Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, along with an executioner.

Filled with worry and dread, Harry and Ron waited as their classmates went, one by one, for their Divination exam. Harry was the last one to go, and when he sat in front of the crystal ball, he made up seeing Buckbeak escape (‘via shadowy thing,’ he mentally added). When he stood up to leave, Trelawney, in a voice that wasn’t her own, recited lines. Harry, stunned, processed that she said that Voldemort was going to rise again with the help of his servant.

Harry ran out of there to find Ron and Hermione, and before he could tell them, they told him that Buckbeak was going to be executed at sunset. They decided to go visit him, so after dinner, they snuck out to Hagrid’s hut. Harry felt helpless as he watched Hagrid’s hands shake as he tried to make them tea. When he broke the milk jug, Hermione offered to clean up, and grab a new one.

“Ron!” Hermione screamed. “I─I don’t believe it! It’s Scabbers!” The cup from Harry’s hand fell and shattered on the floor, but Harry didn’t care. A cold feeling settled in his stomach as he watched Ron grab the wrestling rat from Hermione’s hand.

“Ron,” Harry said slowly, “can you give him to me?” Ron opened his mouth, but at that moment, Hermione looked outside and gasped.

“The Ministry’s here!” Hagrid, at once, ushered them towards his back door.

“They musn’ find yeh here.” Before Harry could say anything else, Ron stuffed Scabbers in his pocket, and ducked under the cloak. Hermione hesitated.

“Hagrid, we could tell them what really happened─”

“Go!” Ron grabbed both Harry and Hermione, and dragged them under the cloak, and pulled them away from the hut. It was surreal to see Buckbeak as they passed by. A sharp pain in his head had him rubbing his temple. Ron grabbed the struggling Scabbers from his pocket.

“Stay put!” Ron hissed. Harry was tempted to grab Scabbers then, but before he could, however, they heard a swish and thud. The three of them stood on top of the slope in shock.

“They did it!” Hermione said. “T-They actually did it.” Ron was still holding onto a struggling Scabbers with one hand while patting Hermione on the back.

“Any minute now, the ministry is going to come out. We need to leave.” Still holding Hermione, Ron made to turn around, but he froze.

“Snoopy?” Harry turned around, and sure enough, ‘Snoopy’ was standing there, staring at them. Harry ducked from under the cloak, and approached him.

“Snoopy, the Ministry’s here, you can’t─” ‘Snoopy’ side stepped Harry, and ran straight for Ron who just froze. ‘Snoopy’ jumped for his right hand where Scabbers was, and managed to knock Scabbers from his hand. The three of them watched as Scabbers hit the ground, and began to run. ‘Snoopy’ ran right after him, and managed to grab Scabbers in his mouth.

“Now your dog has it in for Scabbers!” Ron said. He snapped out of it, and began to run after ‘Snoopy’, and grabbed a hold of ‘Snoopy.’ Ron tried to dislodge Scabbers from his mouth, but ‘Snoopy’ refused, and held tight, and kept going, dragging Ron behind him. Harry and Hermione followed them, leaving the cloak on the ground, but when Harry looked up ahead of them, his eyes widened. ‘Snoopy’ was heading towards the Whomping Willow. In no time at all, ‘Snoopy’ and Ron disappeared under the tree, but when Hermione tried to follow them, Harry grabbed her arm, and dragged her back, just in time, too, as a branch from the Whomping Willow crashed into the ground in front of them.

“How are we supposed to get through?” Hermione said as the branches began to wave menacingly. “And why would Snoopy attack Scabbers like that?”

“It’s a long story,” Harry said darkly. Hermione looked surprised for a moment, before she looked back at the Willow.

“We have to somehow─ Crookshanks?” Crookshanks sprinted forward, dodged all the branches, and stepped on the knot, freezing the whole tree. Hermione’s jaw dropped. “How did he─”

“It doesn’t matter,” Harry said, running towards the tree. Hermione ran after him. Harry crouched down by the base of the trunk, and saw the entrance in the roots. Without hesitation, he crawled through the opening, and slid down the slope. He landed, head first, onto the floor of the tunnel, and paused to get his bearings, which was enough time for Hermione to come sliding down, and land on top of Harry.

“Sorry Harry!”

“It’s fine,” Harry said, rubbing his back. They both lit up their wands, and went through the tunnel, ending up in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione stared, wide eyed, at the damage.

“Ghosts didn’t do any of this,” she muttered. A creak overhead had them both looking up.

“Come on,” Harry said. They slowly climbed up the stairs, and on the landing, Harry spotted the open door, and rushed towards it. He burst into the room, and saw Ron on top of a four poster bed, clutching his arm that was bleeding. “Ron, are you─”

“Harry, get out!” Ron shouted at him, but as soon as Hermione slipped in behind him, the door shut. Ron gave a horrified look behind Harry. Hermione slowly turned, and screamed.

“Sirius Black!” Harry turned to look as well. Sirius stood in the corner with Ron’s wand aimed at them, and Scabbers in his other hand. He quickly disarmed them, and Hermione grabbed Harry’s arm, and dragged him towards Ron, and away from Sirius now that they were wandless.

“You’re an animagus,” Hermione said. “But… how… we took care of you!” Sirius looked guilty. Harry shook off Hermione's hand, and took a step forward.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Harry shouted. He couldn’t believe that Sirius would something reckless like this.

“I’ve waited 12 years for this,” Sirius said.

“If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!” Ron shouted. Harry approached Ron, and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Please calm down,” Harry said.

“Calm down?! Harry, he’s trying to kill you!” Ron said. “I can’t believe we actually fed and took care of you,” Ron added, giving Sirius a disgusted look. Before either Harry or Sirius could say anything, a loud crash was heard downstairs.

“WE’RE UP HERE!” Hermione screamed.

“Hermione!” Harry bit his lip. Who was downstairs? He didn’t have his wand on him thanks to Sirius. Harry looked around the room, examining for anything that could be used as a weapon. Sirius was nervous, and was slowly backing away from the door. The sound of footsteps on the stairs echoed through the room, and everyone seemed to have held their breaths. Harry was currently holding onto a piece of wood, and gripped it tightly. The door slammed open, and Lupin walked in, shouting the disarming charm, and catching the wands that Sirius had.

“Wait, Professor Lupin,” Harry started, but Lupin ignored him.

“Is that him, Sirius?” he asked. Sirius grinned a little and nodded, holding up Scabbers. “Then… why hasn’t he… unless… did you switch without telling me?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said.

“What’s going on?” Ron asked, looking between the two of them. Lupin lowered his wand, walked over to Sirius, and gave him a one armed hug.

“I’m sorry,” Lupin said. Harry released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He casually lowered the wood piece he was holding.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT!” Hermione shouted. She pointed at Lupin. “You were helping him!”

“Hermione─” Lupin said.

“I didn’t tell anyone! I’ve been covering up for you─”

“Hermione, listen to me─”

“Hermione?” Ron said.

“Don’t trust him, he’s a werewolf!”

“Werewolf!” Ron turned to stare at Lupin, and hissed in pain as he jostled his arm. Lupin approached him, and Ron shouted at him to stay away. Lupin flinched, but didn’t say anything.

“All this time, you were just helping Sirius Black into the castle, and targeting Harry to try and kill him─”

“HERMIONE!” Everyone froze, and Hermione turned to stare at Harry, who had been the one that shouted. “Enough.” Harry placed himself between the two groups. “You have no right to tell someone private information like that.”

“You knew?” Hermione asked. Harry nodded.

“Harry…” Harry shot Lupin a small smile.

“Harry,” Ron asked. “Did you know that Black was…?”

“I did,” Harry said. They both stared at him.

“WHAT?!” they both screamed.

“From the beginning?” Harry shook his head.

“I only learned about it a few months ago,” Harry said.

“Harry, this man betrayed your parents─”

“No, he didn't,” Harry said firmly. “He was framed.”

“How do you know?” Hermione asked.

"He told me."

"How do you know he's not lying?" Ron asked.

"I saw Peter Pettigrew on the map." They both gaped at him.

"But that's impossible," Hermione said. "He's dead-"

"He's not," Harry said. "He faked his own death, and escaped-" The door behind them swung open, and everyone in the room stared at it. Lupin went forward and closed the door.

"So this place is haunted," Ron said. Lupin shook his head.

"It was never haunted," Lupin explained. “When I had gone to school here, this was where I had gone each month when I transformed. Dumbledore just encouraged the rumors to keep people away."

"Dumbledore knew and he still hired you?" Harry frowned.

"Hermione, I thought you of all people would be the type to not be prejudiced." Hermione blushed.

"I didn't mean to..."

"How much does he know?" Lupin asked.

"Everything I know," Sirius replied. Hermione looked at Scabbers in Sirius’s hand.

"Are you actually saying that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes."

"But that's impossible," Hermione said. “We learned in class about animagi, and his name wasn't on the list."

"Ah, but there were three unregistered animagi running around-"

"Three?"

"The Marauders could all turn into animals. Professor Lupin is obvious, Sirius can turn into a dog, Pettigrew a rat, and my dad a stag," Harry said, smiling a little by the end. He turned to face Sirius and Lupin. "Wasn't there a spell that can reveal an animagus?" Lupin nodded. "Can you just show them? They won't believe otherwise..."

"Right," Lupin said. He hesitated for a moment before he handed back the wands to their owners. Harry handed his to Sirius. With a nod of thanks, both he and Lupin positioned themselves with the frantic Scabbers between them. "You remember the spell?"

"Of course I do," Sirius said.

"Then on the count of three... One, two, three!" A bright light erupted from the two wands and hit Scabbers. Ron let out a startled yelp, but quieted in shock when Scabbers began to grow before their very eyes. A relatively chubby man was now on the floor in front of them. Ron and Hermione were horrified, and Harry felt his anger rise. This was the person that betrayed his parents. This man was the reason they were dead. A vice grip on his arm prevented Harry from going anywhere. Harry tried to dislodge his arm from Hermione, but she wouldn't budge. Lupin quickly silenced him, and shot ropes from the end of his wand which tied Pettigrew up so he wouldn't escape.

"Expelliarmus!" The wands everyone was holding shot out of their hands again for the second time. In the corner of the room, Snape slowly pulled off Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Harry silently swore. He really shouldn't have forgotten about the cloak. Snape aimed his wand at Sirius and Lupin.

"Explain." Snape wasn't even looking at them. He was staring at Pettigrew with an unreadable expression on his face. Sirius and Lupin stated at each other for a moment before Sirius began talking about that night and the relevant events that led up to it. After Sirius finished, Snape stayed silent. His neutral expression, however, was slowly morphing into one that Harry was familiar with, but then it kept morphing, and Harry easily recognized it as hatred. Snape undid the silencing charm.  

"Severus!" Pettigrew gasped. "You can't possibly believe what he is saying? He's lying!"

"Then what is your side?" Snape hissed. Pettigrew was trembling, but stayed silent. Snape had enough apparently. He straightened up, and aimed his wand at Pettigrew."Diffindo!" The left sleeve of his shirt cut off, and was bare for all of them to see. On his forearm was a faded red tattoo of a skull with a serpent coming out of its mouth. Hermione gasped.

“What is that?" Harry asked.

"That's the dark mark," Hermione said. "It's Voldemort's mark."

"Black," Snape said. Sirius rolled up his left sleeve, and presented his bare left arm.

"I was never a Death Eater," Sirius said.

"Why Peter?" Lupin asked. "Why would you betray Lily and James?"

"He was going to kill me!" Pettigrew shouted out.

"Then you should have died rather than betray them, like we would have done for you!" Sirius shouted back. Pettigrew turned to face Snape.

"Why are you guys working with Snape when he’s─" Snape waved his wand to silence him.

"I should tell the headmaster about this."

"How did you know where we were?" Sirius asked.

"I had stopped by Lupin’s office, and saw an interesting map opened on the desk." Sirius stared at Lupin.

"You forgot to clear it?"

"I was rushing..." Lupin said. "I'm guessing you were the one who left it on my desk?" Sirius grinned. Lupin turned to Snape. "Thank you for helping us, Severus. I know you'd rather have turned Sirius in, but you didn't─"

"Don't get me wrong," Snape interrupted. "I haven't at all forgiven any of you." That got Harry's attention. "I still actively hate you, but not enough to warrant the removal of your souls. Him, however," Snape said, glaring at Pettigrew with hate, "I would love nothing more than to see the dementors give him a kiss." The color in Pettigrew's face drained. Snape turned towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Forty points from Gryffindor for breaking curfew and being out of bounds." Harry mentally rolled his eyes. Looks like Snape was back to normal.

"What?!" Ron said.

"Do you want detention as well?" Ron kept his mouth shut. Snape glanced at the wound on Ron's arm. "How did you get that injury?" Ron flushed.

"I was trying to get Sn-er-Sirius Black... I was trying to hit him, and I missed and got cut by a rock instead," Ron said quickly. Harry almost thought that Snape looked amused, but he raised his wand and muttered "Episkey." Ron's skin closed, and healed itself.

"Thanks," Ron said, blinking in surprise.

"My head hurts a little,” Hermione muttered. Harry smiled. A lot did happen in such a seemingly short amount of time. Snape levitated the silenced Pettigrew, and started to leave the room. The rest of the occupants stared blankly at his back before rushing after him. While Sirius was grumbling about Snape doing what he wanted, Harry was still trying to process that Snape was actually helping them. Crookshanks went ahead of them to press the knot that would freeze the tree.  They emerged from the base of the Whomping Willow onto the dark grounds. The clouds were obscuring the moon at the moment, leaving them with a little light. Snape glanced up at the sky and froze.

"Potter, Weasley, Granger, step away from Lupin right now." The mentioned trio glanced at each other in confusion before Harry looked up. Lupin looked up as well and froze. He began to shake, and Snape swore. He dropped Pettigrew, and headed towards them. Sirius immediately got between them and Lupin, and started pushing them away. As Lupin began to transform, Harry couldn't help but stare. It looked painful, and Harry couldn't imagine Lupin having to do that every month. His attention was brought back by Snape pushing them away.

"Where's Pettigrew?" he asked.

"Not now," Snape growled.

"He's going for Lupin's wand!" Ron shouted. Snape turned towards Pettigrew, who had jumped for Lupin's fallen wand. Snape made to cast a spell, but Lupin, as a werewolf, began to run towards them. Snape instead directed the spell towards Lupin. Harry looked around, and saw Sirius in his dog form on the ground. Harry looked for Pettigrew, and his eyes widened when he couldn't find him.

"He escaped," Harry muttered, shocked. Snape stood in front of them, wand at the ready when werewolf Lupin stood up again. Hermione gasped as Sirius jumped at Lupin and knocked him over.

"You three, run!" Snape yelled. Hermione and Ron began to run towards the castle. Harry had initially followed them, but the sound of a whine from Sirius had him looking back. Lupin had thrown him back towards the lake, and he transformed back into his human form. Feeling incredibly cold, Harry turned around, and ran towards Sirius, ignoring the others. He knelt by Sirius.

"Sirius! Sirius!" Harry could see that he was injured, but at the very least he was still breathing.

"Potter!" Harry turned to see a horrified Snape looking up. Harry followed his gaze and looked up as well, and his stomach dropped. Hundreds of dementors were circling above them. He pulled out his wand, and stood up. He knew that there was no way he would be able to stop them. He would still try though.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry shouted at a nearby dementor that swooped towards them. A silver mist erupted from the end of his wand, but the dementor was merely pushed back, not sent away. "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Each time, an indistinct cloud of silver burst from the end of his wand. More and more dementors were swooping down on them, and even though he could also hear Snape yelling out the spell behind him, there seemed to be no difference. He was horrified to see a dementor approach Sirius and pick him up. "No!" Harry ran towards him, but another dementor blocked his path. Harry struggled to clear his vision, and shot another silver cloud at it. The dementor flew away, and half way to where Sirius was, Harry realized that he wouldn't make it as his vision turned black.

••••••

Sitting up from the ground, Mukuro immediately noticed the cold. So they were dealing with dementors? He grabbed Harry's wand from the ground next to him, and stood up. It took a few minutes to get used to Harry's short stature. A dementor began to fly towards him, and Mukuro readied Harry's wand, and, taking advantage of Harry’s magic, said the spell. Only a faint silver cloud erupted from his wand. It had been enough for the dementor to be dissuaded from coming after him, but it began to go in a different direction towards another person who was unconscious, and whom Mukuro assumed was Sirius Black.

Remembering that he needed to think of a happy memory, Mukuro closed his eyes, and began thinking. Picturing the scene in his mind as vividly as possible, enough that he could almost see her smiling and could hear her laughing, Mukuro aimed Harry's wand towards the dementors, and repeated the spell. This time, a figure burst from the end of the wand, and headed towards the dementors, scattering and repelling them. Mukuro walked over to where Sirius Black lied, his mist flames slowly went around him, slowly changing Harry's appearance to his normal self. He knelt by Sirius Black, and checked for a pulse. Sirius black began to stir, and Mukuro stood up. He glanced around and saw that the dementors were starting to retreat.

"Who are you?" Mukuro looked down at Sirius Black.

"No one you need to know about," Mukuro said smoothly. Sirius Black's eyes widened.

"You... you're..." Mukuro blinked in confusion as Sirius Black became unconscious. Mukuro heard some shouting, and let the mist disappear little by little from his body, returning it back to Harry's appearance. He didn't think that using Harry's magic would drain him like this. Snape reached them in time to gape as an odd purplish-blue flame disappeared.

••••••

With a slight groan, Harry woke up to find himself in the hospital wing.

"How are you feeling?" Harry turned around to see Hermione on the bed next to him. Harry glanced at the other bed to see Ron asleep.

"I'm fine," Harry said. He then remembered what happened. "Where's Sirius? And Professor Lupin? And Snape?"

"Professor Lupin is still in the forest. Snape's somewhere, but... the ministry captured Sirius." Harry's stomach dropped.

"We have to rescue him ourselves," Harry said, starting to get out of bed.

"Harry?" To Harry's relief, Dumbledore walked in. He would be able to stop the ministry from a administering the kiss. As soon as Madam Pomfrey was sent away, he and Hermione both started blurring out about what had happened that night. Halfway through, Dumbledore held up a hand.

"We don't have long before the ministry begins to administer the kiss to Sirius."

"You believe us?"

"Your story coincides with what Sirius Black had told me," Dumbledore said. "Ms. Granger, if done properly, Sirius can be rescued and─"

"That won't be necessary, Headmaster," Snape said, entering the room. Dumbledore looked at him blankly.

"Severus, what do you mean─"

"HOW DID HE ESCAPE?" Everyone stared at the entrance to the hospital wing.

"Was that Fudge?" Harry asked slowly.

"WHEN THE DAILY PROPHET FINDS OUT, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE A FIELD DAY, AND MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME!" Harry was stunned. Did that mean that─?

"Isn't that a bit much," Hermione muttered, but she was smiling broadly.

"Severus," Dumbledore said after a moment. Dumbledore then smiled. "After all these years, you finally─"

"Don't get your hopes up Headmaster," Snape cut in. "The Dementor's Kiss should be gifted to Pettigrew instead." Harry couldn't believe his ears. Did Snape actually help out Sirius? A moment later, an annoyed Fudge walked in through the doors.

"Bad news, Albus, it seems as though Black─"

"Escaped? Yes, I believe a good number of people heard your outburst," Dumbledore said. Fudge had the decency to blush. "We should continue our discussion back in my office."

"But I have to head back to the Ministry soon."

"Then before you go, the dementors..."

"Ah yes, they will have to be removed. Never dreamed that they would try and administer the Kiss on an innocent boy..." The two of them left the room, leaving Harry, Hermione, and Snape in the room. Harry opened his mouth, but Snape held up a hand.

"Save your gratitude. I still despise Black and Lupin, but not enough to warrant the removal of their souls."

"You still didn't have to help them though, so thank you," Harry said, smiling at him. Snape looked momentarily surprised. He coughed, and turned away, leaving the room. Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. A soft groan was heard, and Ron regained consciousness.

"What happened?"

"You explain," Harry said, as Madam Pomfrey returned to the room.

••••••

"You're leaving?!" Harry said. Lupin smiled sadly.

"I can't risk anyone getting hurt."

"But yesterday was just a fluke," Harry said.

"I could have attacked any of you guys yesterday," Lupin said.

"Snape didn't say anything, did he?" Ron asked darkly. Lupin shook his head.

"All year, he's been helping me by making the Wolfsbane Potion."

"And he did kinda rescue Sirius," Harry said.

"Why though?" Hermione asked.

"I'm guessing that at this point, he hates Peter as much as we do," Lupin explained.

"But I thought that he hated─"

"Your father? He did. However, he had been close friends with Lily, your mother."

"Really?" Lupin nodded.

"You really shouldn't be as harsh to him as you guys usually are," Lupin said.

"We're just giving as good as we're getting," Ron muttered. Lupin laughed, and at that moment, Dumbledore walked into the office.

"Remus, your carriage is here," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you." Lupin turned towards the other three. "I very much enjoyed teaching all of you. Good-bye."

"Good-bye," the three of them echoed. With a last smile, Lupin nodded at Dumbledore, and left. Harry glanced at Dumbledore, and was tempted to mention Trelawney's prediction.

"Why so miserable?" Dumbledore asked.

"Pettigrew is still out there," Harry said.

"But Sirius is free," Hermione said.

"But…" Harry then talked about Trelawney’s prediction. Ron and Hermione gaped at him, and Dumbledore’s expression couldn’t be read.

“So that brings her total of real predictions up to two? Maybe I should offer her a pay raise…” Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks. Why was he being so calm?

“If Voldemort comes back, then it’ll be my fault!”

“Pettigrew owes you his life,” Dumbledore explained. “Who knows what could have happened if you hadn’t. Predicting the future after all, is a tricky thing. Maybe it could’ve changed the future, or maybe not. Time, after all, is a tricky thing,” Dumbledore, smiling at Hermione, who blushed. Harry and Ron were confused. “As I was saying, since you saved Pettigrew’s life, he owes you a life debt, and I doubt if Voldemort wants his servant to be in the debt of Harry Potter.” Harry stared at him.

“How does that─”

“He owes you his life,” Ron said. “Wizards usually take advantage of this by getting the person who owes them, to help them do certain things.”

“So you’re saying that Harry could take advantage of this?” Hermione asked. Ron shrugged.

“It’s an idea,” he said. Harry turned back towards Dumbledore, but he was already gone.

“By the way, why was he talking about time?” Harry asked, turning back to Hermione, who blushed.

“Uh, well… To get to all of my classes, I’ve been using a Time Turner…” Both Harry and Ron gaped at her as she explained how it worked. “But I’m going to hand it in after dropping Muggle Studies. I can’t handle another year like this.”

“That is so cool─”

“They gave a time traveling device to a 13 year old,” Harry deadpanned. Hermione blushed again.

“I’m responsible!”

“You’re 13, but better you than, say, a five year old,” Harry added.

“What five year old has a Time Turner?!” Ron asked, bewildered.

“Never mind,” Harry said hastily.

“Doesn’t matter now, I’m still handing it in,” Hermione said, interrupting the two of them.

••••••

The three of them decided to visit Hagrid to comfort him about Buckbeak, but instead found him celebrating. According to him, before Macnair went outside to execute him, Buckbeak somehow freed himself, and escaped. Relieved, they joined him in his celebration for the rest of the afternoon.

On the train ride home, a small owl was seen outside their window with a letter from Sirius. Apparently, Snape did indeed help Sirius escape, though that was the extent. Outside in the forest, he had found a hippogriff strolling around to his luck, which he used to escape. He was still annoyed that he now owed Snape a life debt. Besides that, he said that he was going to expose himself far away from Hogwarts, so the dementors would be removed from Hogwarts, and he also put in a note, which would allow Harry to visit Hogsmeade legally.

Mentioning his convict godfather was probably one of his better ideas. Now, the Dursley's didn't even want to consider what would happen if they blocked Harry from contacting his friends. Lying back down on his bed on Privet Drive, Harry thought about the coming summer. Ron had told him about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, so there was that to look forward to. He had briefly remembered that Mukuro had mentioned that he didn't want Harry to spend his summer at the Dursley's, but seeing that Mukuro hadn't even contacted him since that day in Hogsmeade, Harry disregarded it. Mukuro was free now. There was no reason for him bother with Harry now.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A thank you to the amazing sydni for betaing this for me*
> 
> This chapter is in honor of Mukuro's b-day (It's still June 9th here, so it still counts)

Chapter 9

"Hey Hedwig," Harry mumbled sleepily as she flew into the room. He groggily sat up on his bed, and reached out to stroke her wing. Ever since he _slipped_ that his godfather was an escaped convict, the Dursley's had been avoiding him like the plague. Sure, they still locked his things away, and still gave him chores, but they weren't stopping him from sending letters to Ron and Hermione and especially Sirius. Besides, it wasn't that hard to pick the lock, and get any schoolwork that he needed. Other than Petunia acting a little odd and giving him fewer chores, things were going as well as he had expected. 

Except for one little thing...

He was bored to tears; and it was only a week into the summer holidays. Ron had given him the invitation to attend the Quidditch World Cup, and though Harry was greatly looking forward to it, it wasn't until the end of August. He still had a near two full months to go. What was he supposed to do in the meantime? Hedwig, after being tired of standing still, brushed his hand off, and flew out the window. Sighing, Harry fell back onto his bed, and stared out the window until he fell asleep.

The next day, he dutifully finished his chores, avoided Petunia, smirked when Dudley avoided him, and ignored Vernon's insults and threats. Being inside the Dursley's house felt suffocating at times, so Harry decided to go outside for a walk. Before, it had bothered him that the neighbors ignored him and gave him dark and disgusted looks, but now, he appreciated that. They wouldn't bother him in the slightest no matter what. Even Dudley's gang never wanted anything to do with him. Dudley had been the instigator of all their interactions. 

Relieved to have the park empty, Harry sat down on one of the swings. He debated with himself for a minute, before he pushed himself back on the swing, and swung forward, using his legs and body to propel him to go higher and higher. The wind in his face was exhilarating, and he felt more awake during this time than he had since the beginning of the holidays. It reminded him of being on a broom, so Harry kept at it as long as he could. And when his legs began to hurt, he stopped, and let gravity bring him back to a standstill. When he was finally still, Harry took deep breaths to calm the adrenaline rush. Harry stretched a little, but stayed seated on the swing. Slowly putting his arms down, he looked at the swing next to him. A blond kid, that he never saw before, was seated there, and stared right back at him. 

"Push me." Harry blinked. He never even saw the kid sit down. If Harry had to put an age to him, Harry would have guessed either 9 or 10. “Push me,” the kid repeated. Harry blinked in surprised at the kid’s forwardness. He wordlessly got off the swing, and approached the kid's back. He awkwardly placed his hands on the kids back and pushed. The kid moved forward, and Harry immediately backed up as he swung back. Harry pushed him a few more times, before he was satisfied that the kid could do the rest himself. Harry walked back to his swing, and watched the kid. With the speed that he was going, Harry was only able to see a blur of silvery blonde hair. The kid wasn't laughing or screaming, but Harry had a distinct feeling that he was still enjoying himself. Eventually, the kid started to slow down, and half a minute later, the swing was at a stand still. "That was fun. I see why people like it." Harry grinned.

"Was that your first time on a swing?" Harry asked. The kid stared at him blankly, and Harry blinked. The kid looked rather enchanting, and did Harry just use the word enchanting to describe a kid? Harry rubbed his eyes.

"It was," the kid deadpanned. Harry stared at the markings under the kid's eyes. Correction, he did see the kid before. Harry rubbed his eyes again. It couldn’t be…

"Why are you a blond?" Harry asked. The kid actually scowled a little, and Harry was taken back… so he did know how to make facial expressions.

"I hate my hair," the kid mumbled. "Can I change my hair back? I like that color more." Harry nodded, and watched as indigo flames surrounded his hair, and the silvery blonde hair turned into the light green Harry was more familiar with. His face was expressionless again, and Harry blinked a few times and pinched himself to see whether or not he was hallucinating. 

"Why are you here?" Harry asked, after determining that he wasn't hallucinating. 

"Master told me to follow you here," Fran said, swinging his feet in the air while Harry started to choke on his breath. 

"Mukuro's here?!" Fran nodded. Harry bit his cheek to stop from grinning. He knew he should be annoyed; after all, Mukuro had been ignoring him for the past couple of months, but suddenly, all the negative emotions and boredom he had been feeling the past week vanished. It took almost all of his effort to resist grinning. "Where is he?" Harry asked. Fran stared at him.

"He's somewhere," Fran said, still staring. They had a small staring contest before Harry's eyes widened.

"He wouldn't?" Fran didn't respond, but Harry already broke off eye contact, and ran towards the entrance of the playground. He kept running down Magnolia Crest, and didn't stop running until he reached the Dursley's house. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Harry clutched the stitch in his side and looked around. Nothing seemed off. Harry approached the front door, and slowly opened it. Only hearing silence, Harry opened the door the rest of the way and entered the house. He still couldn't hear anything, and scenario after scenario crossed his mind. Slowly walking forward, Harry passed the empty living room and kitchen before he stopped, and stared at the entrance into the living room. He thought he saw- Harry approached the entrance. Something was shimmering in the air, and Harry's eyes narrowed. Not bothering to reach for his wand, Harry walked through the barrier.

"I thought for a moment that you weren't going to notice it," Mukuro said casually, as though he currently didn't have the Dursley's tied up and seated on the couch. Mukuro himself was seated comfortably in the plush armchair, and was resting his head on the knuckles of his gloved hand. His trident lay across his lap, with his other hand casually resting on it. The Dursley's were staring at him fearfully, but when Harry walked in, they all stared at him with... hope? 

"Did you do anything to them?" Harry asked. "Besides the obvious?" 

"Of course not," Mukuro said cheerfully. Harry shivered at the smile on his face. The Dursley's eyes widened, and Harry couldn't help but relish the look of fear in their eyes. The door opened and shut, and they watched as Fran passed them completely and went into the kitchen. 

"You know him, boy!?" Mukuro and Harry turned back to face a furious Vernon. Mukuro lifted his trident and aimed it at Vernon, who shrunk back. 

"Did I say you could speak?" Vernon whimpered, and Mukuro chuckled. "Should I just silence you instead?"

"Y-You can't do m-mag- that thing outside," Vernon stammered out. Mukuro started to laugh and created a long piece of cloth that wrapped around Vernon's head, covering his mouth. 

"Could you not terrorize them?" Harry deadpanned. Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "And why are you here in the first place?" Harry asked, crossing his arms. 

"I told you, didn't I," Mukuro said, leaning back in the armchair, and laying his trident across his lap again, "I don't want you to be here longer than necessary." Harry scoffed.

"Really? I don't recall. Hell, I don't even remember the last time you actually contacted me." That was a blatant lie, but Harry hoped his annoyance was obvious. Mukuro blinked at the tone of Harry's voice.

"Master, I think Four-Eyes is angry at you," Fran said, walking in the room. Crumbs from the potato chips he was eating were dropping on the floor, and Petunia cringed each time a crumb fell. Harry glared at him for the nickname, while Mukuro laughed.

"Are you angry at me for not contacting you? To be honest, I have been busy, and never got the chance..." Harry flushed.

"O-Of course not," Harry said. "I have better things to do than pay attention to what you're doing and what not..." Harry mumbled. "Besides, what do you even want with me? You're free right now... not in prison anymore."

"You're his convict godfather?!" Dudley blurted out. Everyone in the room stared at him. Mukuro actually snorted, and Harry had to grab onto the plush armchair to keep himself from falling.

"The hippo is an idiot," Fran said.

"Hippo? I've always used whale," Harry commented.

“Hmm, not a bad idea,” Mukuro said, smiling cheerfully at Harry. “Why don’t I become your new godfather, and─”

“No,” Harry said shortly. “That’s too scary of an idea; enough to be nightmare inducing.”

"Pity,” Mukuro said. Mukuro turned back towards the Dursley’s, and grinned. “Just so you know, I never broke out of a wizard prison," Mukuro told the Dursley's. All of them relaxed, and Harry coughed to hide a smile behind his hand. "It was a mafia one." Vernon's eyes bulged and Dudley screamed when Mukuro 'accidently' adjusted his bangs and revealed his red eye. Petunia just fainted. Vernon struggled to remove the cloth from around his mouth.

"W-What do you want with my family?!" Vernon said. Mukuro's smile sharpened, and Harry started to feel apprehensive.

"Where's Marge?" The color left Vernon's face. 

"W-Why? S-She has nothing to with any of the freaky stuff that freak does!" Vernon shouted. Harry flinched, and Mukuro slowly stood up, and walked towards Vernon, and in a split second, he stabbed the cushion near his head. 

"You are _damn_ lucky that I'm a busy man," Mukuro said, his voice even, but the aura around was anything but calm. Vernon whimpered, but was immediately silenced when Mukuro stabbed the cushion again, this time leaving a scratch on his face. "Harry, go grab your things," Mukuro said, making the trident disappear.

"I thought you're not supposed to use m-magic outside of school," Dudley mumbled.

"What part of me looks like I care?" Mukuro said, his red eye flashing. Dudley whimpered again.

"Anymore and the hippo is going to piss himself," Fran said, opening another bag of chips. Mukuro scrunched his nose, and backed away from the Dursleys. He turned towards Harry.

"Well, go get your things." Harry slowly nodded.

"Let me send a letter to Ron first," Harry said. Mukuro nodded, and Harry ran up the stairs, and grabbed two sheets of parchment. He wrote one to Ron and the other to Sirius. After hesitating for a moment, he mentioned in the letters that he was going abroad. To Ron, he mentioned that he would be back in time for the Quidditch World Cup, and that he would arrive at the Burrow no later than the day before. He wrote the same to Sirius, but added that he shouldn't worry about Harry, and that Hedwig would be staying with the Weasleys. Satisfied, Harry tied the letters to Hedwig's leg, and told her softly that he was leaving, and that she should stay with the Weasleys. Hedwig glared at him, and nipped his finger a bit harshly, but still gave him a reassuring hoot before flying out the window. Harry closed and locked it behind her, and started gathering his things. 

Having put everything into one bag, Harry left the room and went back downstairs in time to hear the end of Mukuro's threat to the Dursleys about calling the cops, and Fran adding in helpful suggestions. Knowing that Mukuro was probably not going to listen, Harry stayed silent.

"Where's your other things?" Mukuro said, eyeing his bag. 

"It's in the- er- cupboard under the stairs," Harry said quickly. "Give me a moment to pick the lock..." Mukuro rolled his eyes.

"Fran, go and destroy the lock." Harry's eyes widened, and before he could say anything, Fran was already out in the hallway, and was standing in front of the door.

"You really don't have to," Harry said, crouching down next to Fran, and pulling out a bobby pin. "I can do it myself." Fran ignored him, and Harry was distracted by the hammer he materialized and used to break the lock off the door. "Are illusions supposed to work like that?" His question was ignored. Mukuro appeared right behind them, opened the door, and started to drag his trunk out.

"The sooner we leave here, the better," Mukuro muttered. "I swear I'm going to vomit if I have to stay here any long...er..." Mukuro stared in the cupboard, and Harry cringed. "Why is there a cot in there?" Mukuro asked. Harry thought fast.

"There wasn't any room around the house after Dudley got too big to use it, so they stuck it in there... you know, for storage." It technically wasn't a lie. It did belong to Dudley. He had used it to camp out in front of the TV when Dudley was able to still fit on it. Mukuro examined the interior, and with a jolt, Harry remembered that some of his old toys and drawings were still in there. Harry held his breath as Mukuro fully extracted his trunk and slowly shut the door. When Mukuro stayed silent, Harry allowed himself to breathe. Mukuro walked past the two of them, and left the house. Fran dragged Harry outside, and they stopped next to Mukuro.

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked cautiously as Mukuro looked up and down the street looking impatient.

"Master possessed some guy to take us to the airport," Fran said, chewing on some candy that Harry recognized as the ones Petunia bought for Dudley. 

"Wait! Possessed?" Fran nodded. Harry had to massage his head. Of course Mukuro would do that. "Wait! Airport?"

"How else do you think we're getting there?" Mukuro said. Mukuro reached inside his pocket, and pulled out an English passport. Harry took it and opened it up. The name and the information in it were obviously fake, but his picture was still there. Deciding against asking about where he had gotten the picture, Harry put the passport in his bag.

"So, we really are going abroad?" Harry had the idea, but it was nice to have a confirmation. 

"Duh," Fran said. "For someone who wears glasses, you are really dumb." Harry's eye twitched. 

"We're seriously taking an airplane?" Harry asked Mukuro. The best way to deal with Fran’s insults would be to ignore them. 

"Unfortunately," Mukuro muttered. 

"But tickets are expensive, and aren't there other ways that would be faster? Like the Floo system?"

"If you can set up something like that, then go ahead." Harry flushed. He forgot that he was the only wizard here. 

"The Knight Bus?" Mukuro stared at him.

"Is that a joke?"

"Four-Eyes really is an idiot," Fran muttered. 

"Harry, we're going to _Asia_ ; Japan to be specific," Mukuro said. Harry flushed. He also forgot that the Knight Bus only operated in the UK. 

"Never mind," Harry muttered. 

"I'd rather take the Knight Bus than the flying metal death trap," Mukuro said under his breath. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Finally." Harry looked down the street, and gaped as a sleek black car showed up, and a man exited the car. He approached them, and wordlessly took Harry's things. Mukuro walked towards the car, and slid into the backseat with Fran following him. Harry hesitated for a moment, before following them. 

"Could we stop by Gringotts in Diagon Alley, so I could exchange some galleons into pounds-"

"The tickets are all paid for," Mukuro cut in. 

"Right," Harry muttered. It was probably better for him to not know. The man came back, and started up the car, and Harry remembered that the Dursleys were still tied up inside. Before he could say anything, Mukuro read his thoughts.

"The rope will disappear in a bit." Harry opened his mouth again, but Mukuro cut him off. "As soon as we board the plane, he'll be free too." Harry nodded, but when he opened his mouth again, Mukuro glared at him, and Harry shut his mouth, and stayed silent for the rest of the trip. 

In almost no time at all, they reached the airport, and the possessed man helped them get their tickets. Soon, they were settled in their seats and waiting for departure. Being his first time on a plane, Harry kept looking around, and hoped that the new surroundings would distract him enough to tune out Mukuro and Fran, who Harry had the misfortune to sit in between. 

After many hours and many arguments (which made Harry wonder if he could get away with stunning the two of them), they finally arrived in Japan. Mukuro was the first off the plane, followed by Harry and Fran at a more leisurely pace. Harry took a deep breath as he stepped off the plane. The attendant was saying something, but he couldn't understand, which was when he realized his main problem.

"Mukuro," Harry hissed, "I have no idea how to speak Japanese!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, but I wanted Namimori to be it's own chapter (or two), so sorry guys!
> 
> Yeah, so I made Fran a natural blond... one, it's a HP/KHR crossover, so so I might as well incorporate some HP stuff in the KHR world, and two, I like the idea that illusionists can use their mist flame to change their appearance like a metamorphmagus would do (aka Mukuro and Chrome's (and maybe a few others) actual appearance is a little different in this fic)
> 
> ((Still debating whether or not Byakuran should still be in Namimori when Harry's there... that meeting would be hilarious though XD))


End file.
